


After the War

by Majestic_Moonwolf



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Resurrection
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-24
Updated: 2019-06-09
Packaged: 2019-11-04 23:16:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 61,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17907560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Majestic_Moonwolf/pseuds/Majestic_Moonwolf
Summary: Thanos has reached his goal. Half of humanity, half of the universe is gone. Now the question remains... what happens next? Do the Avengers regroup? Who else will join our heroes? Will they defeat Thanos or will they die trying?





	1. The aftermath

Gamora

"You have to sacrifice the person you love the most," the hooded man had told him. That's what would have gotten him what he wanted. That's what would have sealed the fate of the universe. I had turned to him in triumph, told him there was no way for him to get what he wanted because he had never known love. But then... then his expression changed. It was as if he was about to do something he would regret, but he was determined to do it because he thought it was for the greater good. It scared me, it really scared the hell out of me because for a moment I thought he might have known love. Then I realized what he was about to do... he was about to sacrifice me. He loved me? I had thought at that confusing moment. But soon my confusion was replaced with fear as he drove me closer to the edge of the cliff. The fear mixed itself with hatred and another wave of confusion as I realized that he was indeed about to sacrifice me. But I was not willing to go down without a fight, I was not willing to lay down my life for a cause he thought was good. I took out the blade he had given me once, the blade he had given me when we first met and he decided to kidnap me. It was a small knife, which he had once used to demonstrate balance to me, with which he had distracted me anyway because, if I ever had the chance to kill him, I wanted it to be with that blade, with the first thing he had given me. I wanted him to see, even for just a second, the monster he had created within me and maybe realize that whatever he had done was wrong. That's the blade I tried to use to kill myself with before he had the chance to murder me. But it was to no avail, of course, for he could control reality, now that he had destroyed Knowhere and took the Reality stone from the collector. The blade turned into bubbles, just like the bullets from Peter's gun had when he had tried to kill me... A favor I had asked of him, because I didn't want to be in the hands of the man who was about to throw me of a cliff, not alive at least. "No, this isn't love," I told him then, hoping that maybe, just maybe, he would realize that he didn't love me or that he was doing was wrong if he did indeed love me. But he threw me off the cliff anyway. I fell, just a few seconds, but it felt like years as I saw my life flying by. The last thing I saw was Peter, right before Thanos took me with him. "I love you more than anything," I said. "I love you too," he replied. Then I hit the ground and everything went black. That was the end of my life... Or so I thought. 

I felt my body again, I opened my eyes end blinked slowly, adjusting to the light. I looked around and found myself lying on a surface of... water? No, it wasn't water, it couldn't be water, I would have been swallowed up by water. But it sure did look like water, and it was cold to the touch like water. "That's Strange," I mumbled. I looked up at the sky, which was the orange shade of sunset, maybe a little brighter even, and I was sure I wasn't in the normal world anymore, or normal universe as I should probably state it. My memories of that place are quite vague from that moment on. I remember whispers and cries of agony, as if from people in pain, souls long lost. I do remember figuring out where it was that I was. I was in the Soul Stone, the stone Thanos obtained by throwing me off that damn cliff. I remember feeling terrible about that, feeling terrible about probably being the cause of mass slaughter. If only I hadn't told him where to find it... But I couldn't stand it... I couldn't stand it to just stand by as he tortured Nebula, my sister. She might not be my real sister, but it sure as hell feels like she is. We grew up together, we were trained together, we made plans to kill Thanos together when we were young and still had hopes and dreams. We had almost grown apart, but we had become closer over the past three years or so. And so I couldn't stand by... 

I remember feeling a change, it felt as if the world turned upside-down for a moment, and then spinned back to its right position, as if it made 360° spin. Something was wrong, something was very wrong. I remember Thanos being there and me being in the form as he cherished me most. The little girl he had kidnapped. Being a child again only increased my feeling of wrongness, but I pushed it away. I pushed it all away to ask him one question, but it was the only question that mattered. "Did you do it?" I asked him. He looked down at me, he even dared to look sad, as if what he had done pained him. "Yes," he said. So he had done it, he had collected all the Infinity Stones and snapped his fingers to erase half of the universe, if I were bigger, and if I felt like I could have reached I might have tried to punch him in the face. "What did it cost?" "Everything," he replied and he looked even worse than he did when he had answered the first question. And I thought that maybe, maybe he did care. Maybe he had not wanted to do it. But that thought vanished as he did and I was alone again. And I was myself again. Not knowing how much time I had spent in the Soul Stone and somehow fearing the eternity of loneliness that waited for me in there... I didn't know what was about to happen. I didn't know that there where people out there who would fight to win back what they had lost. I didn't know there was a plan, how could I? I was trapped. So I got myself as ready as one could be for eternity spent alone.

Natasha

Half of my friends were gone and I hated it. I hated it even more than that annoying sound mosquitos make while zooming around your head trying to find a place to drink your blood like the little bloodsucking parasites they are. I felt sad about it as well of course, but that made me hate it even more. I hate feeling grief and sadness, at least, when I'm around others, and with others I mean people who are pretty much strangers to me and the people who I do consider as friends but whom I don't trust enough to show my emotions around. This is almost the entire population of the world, since there are only two people whom I trust and one of them just lost his best friend while the other was at home with his family sitting out his time. At least, that's what I hoped. I mean, I just saw a lot of people disintegrate, it could have easily happened to Clint as well. I thought about calling him after cleaning up the mess. Or at least waiting till we were at the palace. I walked over to Steve and squatted down beside him. "You okay?" I asked in a whisper. I knew the answer, but, you know, those are the questions that you're expected to ask in a situation like this. Not that anybody had ever been in a situation like this before, so I had actually no idea if it was expected of me or not, but I did it anyway. He shook his head, probably too distraught to talk. 

The survivors of the battle all recollected on an open field, the field of the battle. I saw Okoye there, a woman I had fought side by side with, together with Wanda... The thought of Wanda somehow made my heart ache a little. She had been a good friend and I was honestly starting to trust her as I trained her. I had become comfortable with telling her little about my past, mostly because I knew she would understand being turned into a weapon when she was younger too. But I didn't know that I had actually become a little attached to her, but she was an avenger after all, and the Avengers were the only family I had, the only family I'd ever had. Okoye looked distraught too, no wonder, she lost her King. T'Challa had disintegrated together with Bucky, Wanda and Sam, which meant that Steve lost four of his good friends, while for me, well, I was pretty good friends with both Sam and Wanda it seems, and I would call T'Challa a friend as well, but Bucky? No. I had my reasons for that. Steve didn't know them and he didn't need to know them, not now. It was strange though, to see a woman like Okoye, someone who was quite stoic, like me, so distraught. She really had been close to her King it seemed and I'm sure she would have given her life for his. And probably not just because it was expected of her, but because she respected him and knew he was what was good for her country, kinda like if I would lay down my life to spare Steve or something like that. 

We had a headcount there on the plain open field of battle and, as was to be expected, half of our fighters were gone. This included one of Thor's new friends, which he had introduced to Steve as Tree, but when I saw him in battle, all I heard him yell was "I am Groot" so I was sure his name must have been Groot, or maybe it was just all he could say. Still there was his other new friend, a mutated raccoon who turned out to be the best friend of the talking tree, who was indeed called Groot. His name was Rocket, at least, that's the name he chose to go by, given he was a mutated raccoon, he was probably an experiment with a number for a name, but nobody seemed to have the heart to ask him. To be fair, if I had a number for a name, I'd come up with something else for myself to and only refer to myself by that name if someone asked. And about Thor, well, he looked... different. His hair was short and his eyes seemed slightly mismatched, but only from time to time. His right eye seemed to change color, sometimes it was brown, other times it was blue, like his other eye. I guessed there was quite a long story behind that as well, but again, nobody had the heart to ask, for grief was also plain on Thor's face. It was as if he had tried to take revenge and had failed in doing so and I wondered who he lost. 

Nebula

They were gone. They were all gone. First my sister, now her friends. And I was left with an unstable Terran man, who was crying over the kid he had taken into battle, and who had lost his life, who disintegrated just like Drax and Mantis and Peter had. And that other guy, Strange, they had called him, but that could hardly be his real name right? Then again, I knew a raccoon with the name Rocket, so I wouldn't be too fazed if it was. "Why him?" The man whispered. "Why not me? He was a kid for god's sake!" "Death doesn't discriminate," I stated, "It comes for everyone, the young, the old, the wise and the stupid, the loved and the hated." He looked up at me is if he only just realized I was still there. "What?" "It's the way it is." "How can you be so heartless on a moment like this?" "Because, at this point, om mostly made out of metal, stripped of most of my humanity, emotions come hard to me." His eyes widened for a moment, it was clear I had caught him off guard. "That's... that's intense." "It's the way my life went." He nodded and swallowed, "This was his doing, wasn't it? Thanos I mean." "Most likely yes. It means half of the universe must be gone by now. We're lucky." "If this is what you call "lucky"." "Not really no, but we could have been off worse." "I just lost a kid of whom I felt responsible who wasn't supposed to be in space," he said as he rose to his feet, "how could I have been off worse! How am I supposed to tell his aunt? He's the only family she still has!" "You could have been dead too and there would have been no one left to tell his aunt, that's how you could have been off worse, as for the second question, I don't have an answer for that." He sighed, "I thought so." "And don't act like you're the only one who lost someone that was important to you, I lost my adoptive sister at the hands of my adoptive father." He looked taken aback for a moment, then he spoke again, "I'm sorry," he said, "I shouldn't have taken my anger out on you." "You shouldn't, but you did. Don't worry, I do that too sometimes." "So, you're an adoptive daughter of Thanos I take it?" "Yes." "And, you got a name?" "Nebula." "I'm Tony." "Well, Tony, you want to try and get that kid back?" "You think that's possible?" "If we get the stones and the gauntlet, maybe." "We need a plan, and a lot more people." "Do you know where to find others who are willing to fight and die to restore the universe?" He sighed, "Yeah, they might not like me that much, but I do." "Well, I got a ship, you just need to tell me where to go." "Earth." Well, he was from earth. That was to be expected. 

Once on the ship I typed in the coordinates for Terra, which, surprisingly, wasn't too far from Titan. It was in the same solar system even. Tony looked at the planets we passed, "That's Saturn," he said with some surprise, "The planet we were on is a moon of Saturn..." "Titan." "Yeah... it's called Titan on Earth too." "Coincidence." "Maybe." He was silent for a while, till we passed another planet he seemed to recognize. "Mars," he sighed, "almost home." It was clear he dreaded going back, but he knew he had to, that was clear too. I glanced at the planet, Mars, he had called it, "It looks like a red wasteland," I commented. "They found water on it, it's a planet of possibilities. At least, that's what they want us to believe. Look, there's Earth." A blue and green, well, green, more yellowish like dried grass, planet rose up out of the darkness as we passed Mars, a little light grayish white orb floating beside it, a moon, attracted to Terra's gravity. "It's crazy how out here there is all this technology and while my people only managed to get on that stupid little moon of ours." It was clear he was trying to distract himself by stating boring facts. "Terrans have never been the brightest race of humanoids." "Thanks," he didn't even sound annoyed, not in the slightest. I guess that's what happens when you lose someone you care about. If someone had made some snarky comment about me at that time I would have either torn the person apart out of anger, or just let the person be, no reaction given. Most likely the latter of the two. 

"Where exactly do you want me to land?" I asked as we neared Terra. "The land," was all the reply I got. That's very helpful. Not. "I was thinking more about a specific place." "You see that real big piece of land there?" "They're all big pieces of land." "Just land somewhere where they speak English please, I don't feel like speaking French or anything like that." "How am I supposed to know where they speak English, whatever that may be!" "It's the language you're speaking right now." "The language I'm speaking right now is the one commonly used throughout the galaxy." "An Earthian language?" "Who says you Terrans came up with it?" "Terrans?" "Your planet is commonly known as Terra." "Oh." He was silent for a moment, then, "Can I ask you a question?" "Depends." "On what?" "The question." "It's not something personal." "Go ahead then." "Thanos... he knew me..." "He did yes." "Do you know why?" "He controlled Loki when he attacked your planet." "So that's actually true." "Yes." "Have you seen it?" "Yes." "And you saw is fight the army, me and my friends?" "I didn't pay much attention to it. Thanos kept me busy most of the time. I might have been his daughter but he never cared for me, which is why he usually send me away on missions. He mostly sent my sister with me to not arouse suspicion, but I knew what he was doing. She was always his favorite." "Do you do that more often?" "Do what?" "Answer a question and then tell a whole story as to why that's the answer and then all of a sudden share some personal details." Besides everything that had happened, I smiled briefly, thinking back on that one time on the Quadrant, Yondu's ship, when Kraglin had asked me what I was going to do with the ship they gave me. "It might have happened before." 

Steve

I lost him again, I lost my best friend again, it kept spinning trough my head. I tried to stop it, but I couldn't. It's the second time, the second time you lost Bucky. Somewhere a little voice in my head wanted to tell me that it was the third time, but that wasn't true. He hadn't been Bucky that one time, not really, although he had not fully been the Winter Soldier, when he had fished me out of the water, when he had saved my life. He saved you and you couldn't save him. What kind of friend are you? And to make it all worse, Sam and T'Challa were gone too. 

On transportation back to the castle I tried to keep my face as expressionless as possible. It's not that I didn't want to show any emotion, it's just that, if I did, I was sure I would break down after not just losing my best friends for the second time, but also losing three other close friends. Bucky, Sam, T'Challa, Wanda, they're all gone. And I couldn't break down in front of the remaining Avengers, I had to stay strong for them, I had to act like a leader, like Captain America, the mantle I had dropped two years ago. They seemed to buy it, well, most of them at least. Nat sent me worried glances from time to time, not that that surprised me. Out of the remaining Avengers, she knew me best, that and she was trained to read expressions and probably even analyze them and what was behind them. But I could see that she was fighting too, fighting her own emotions, like she always does when she gets emotional. I saw some fear in her eyes too, and uncertainty, I wondered why, until I realized, Clint. She must have been wondering about what had happened to him. If he's dead too... God I wouldn't know what to do. 

We all remained silent as we made our way to the castle, but as we arrived there something unpleasant was waiting for us there. It was a person, and the person in person wasn't an unpleasant person, on the contrary, she's a great person. It's just that she's Princess Shuri of Wakanda and that her brother had disintegrated after Thanos snapped his fingers. "Oh hell," Natasha whispered under her breath. "This is gonna be bad," Rhodes whispered. We got out of the vehicle and she looked at us expectantly, as if waiting for us to tell her where her brother was. Then, Okoye spoke to her, just two little words that set her whole world upside-down, "Queen Shuri," she said and the young woman's eyes went wide with disbelief. "No," she whispered. "I'm sorry," Okoye whispered back, "Your brother, he... he's gone, my Queen." "No," she said again, louder this time, "Tell me it's not true!" "I'm afraid I can't." "T'Challa," she whispered it so softly that I almost thought I'd imagined it. I pitied her, just two years ago she lost her father, now she lost her brother. But she was eighteen now, she was old enough to rule, which meant she was Queen, Queen in a time of despair. 

We told Shuri of what had happened, to the littlest detail, then we all went our separate ways, meaning, me and the remaining Avengers went somewhere to talk, to catch up. I looked around me, Rhodes had come too, and so had Thor's new friend, Rocket, apart from that, only Natasha, Bruce and Thor. I wondered again what had happened to Clint, then my mind switched to Tony. Tony. We might have had our differences in the past, but I knew that he was still a good man. I wondered what had happened to him. Please let him be alive. We need him... we need him here... 

"Well Thor, it looks like you got a lot to explain," Natasha said trying to make it sound lightly and almost succeeding. "What?" "Well, your hair, your eye, what happened?" His eye? What's wrong with his eye? I studied Thor for a while, and after a closer look I saw that his right eye was brown. Huh? It had always been blue. It switched to blue just as I thought that. "Ah yes, my eye it was stabbed by my sister, my hair was cut by some creepy old man when I landed on Sakaar where I was used as a fighting slave." "That's where he found me," Banner brought in, "I'd been there for three years, not as myself of course, but as the Hulk." "Yeah, what happened to that guy?" Nat asked him, sounding slightly angry and annoyed. She seemingly hadn't forgiven him for what he did back in 2015. "He didn't want to come out to play." "That's new, he used to be so eager." She wanted to say more, but I silenced her with a look that I hoped said, "Now's not the time". Thor seemed to sense the tension, so he picked his story up where Banner left off, "That is indeed where I found Bruce. I had to fight him even, I almost won, but then this stupid guy who calls himself the Grandmaster shocked me. He had this little shocking device you see, and there was some kind of implant in my neck, and those things are connected and so he shocked me, and that's how I lost the fight. I would have won otherwise." He sounded as if he tried to convince someone, probably Bruce, since he kept looking at him. "And so the mighty God of Thunder was downed by the power of electricity," Natasha mumbled, "Which is ironic considering that he controls lightning and stuff, which is basically electricity." "Then I managed to escape, with Bruce, and we found the quinjet which Bruce had used to get there and Bruce got calmed down there by-." "Never mind," Bruce said with a glance at Natasha. "The lullaby," Nat asked lifting an eyebrow and tilting her head slightly. "Yeah, that," Bruce mumbled. "And we came across my captor again. A Valkyrie." "Yeah, where did Brunnhilde go?" "She brought the remaining Asgardians to safety. Oh yeah, my dad died, so I'm king now. And Loki died, so my whole family is gone, but I'll get to that." Thor told us the whole story, of how he lost his eye and how he, or actually Surtur, the King of the Fire Jotuns, defeated his evil sister Hela. How he came across Thanos and what had happened to his friend Heimdall and his brother Loki." "So he really was brainwashed huh?" Nat said at the end of it. "He was yes. Did Bruce tell you?" "Yeah, but it's hard to believe someone who hardly knew him." "It also means we dealt with Thanos before," I brought in, "Which means we defeated him before." "So?" Nat said. "Well, if we can defeat him once, we must be able to do it again." 

Clint

When my family disintegrated I immediately knew this had something to do with the Avengers. Well, maybe not immediately, maybe it took me a few minutes and some screaming in anger and panic, but I figured it out soon enough. I mean, what else could it have been? Aliens? I had fought aliens of course, but my gut told me the Avengers were involved in this, of course that meant that aliens was a possible option... Oh, just leave it. Forget all that okay? Just forget it. 

So, after everything that happened to my family and watching the news to see if there was anything on it about whatever the hell it was that was happening, I decided to call Natasha. It went over twice before she picked up. "What the hell is happening?" I asked her as greeting. She sighed, "Aliens. Aliens happened." Of course it were the damned aliens again. I just want some fucking peace and quiet guys! "What kind of alien could do this?" "An ugly purple one with all the Infinity Stones." "You mean like that stone in Visions head?" "Exactly." "Wait, you said he had all of them?" "Vision is dead." "Wanda's not gonna like that." "I wouldn't really worry about that right now if I where you..." "Why not?" "Why are you calling me?" She avoided the question. Nat only avoided questions when something was very very wrong and she didn't want to tell me because a.) she wasn't sure she could tell me or b.) it was really horrible and she couldn't bring herself to tell me because she couldn't stand to think of it. "My family..." "They're gone?" She sounded concerned, with an undertone of fear. "Yeah." I heard her say something, I didn't understand it but I'm pretty sure she swore in another language. "All of them?" "All of them. So that's the alien's doing?" "Yeah, his name's Thanos by the way, you might wanna remember that. He's the guy who brainwashed Loki to take over Earth." "What now?" "Quite a long story, but Thor told us everything." "Thor's back?" "Yes. And Bruce." Oh hell. I knew what happened between the two of them, I knew what she had felt for him. And I also knew she had been quite angry with him for the last few years. "Where are you?" "Wakanda." "You think I can came over?" "You should ask the Queen." "Queen? Wait, T'Challa's gone?" "Yeah...." "Who else?" "Bucky, Sam... Wanda..." "Wanda?" "Yes." "God, not the other one too..." I whispered. 

Tony

So, there I was. On a spaceship. With an alien. On our way to Earth. I lost Peter... I lost Peter as I had lost so many others. God, what am I going to tell May? Maybe Pepper can help me think of what to say... Pepper... PEPPER!! I hadn't thought of checking on her. "God I'm stupid," I whispered to myself. How could I forget to check on my fiancée? I saw the blue alien woman, Nebula, turn to me slightly, but she didn't ask. I looked out of the window, we were pretty close to earth now. I pointed to the general direction of North-America, "You should land there." "That's your big piece of land?" "Yeah." She nodded. "You should know that people won't take very kindly to aliens." "Aliens?" "It's what we call creatures from outer space." She sighed, "Terrans." "Yeah, we're stupid. That's how I made this suit, because I'm stupid." That should shut her up. 

We landed in New-York on the roof of a building. It was not as if anybody cared anyway, all the people were running around on the streets, screaming in panic. "Your planet looks great." "Yeah, how would the people of your planet react after half of their population suddenly vanishes?" She looked down and sighed, "Probably the same." "Well then!" "Just tell me what your next move is." "I'm gonna call someone." "Someone who can bring us closer to that people who you think are willing to help you?" "Yeah, she... has a car. She can bring us to my office where I... can call my friends..." "Well, go on then." She was really starting to get on my nerves. I put on my helmet, "Friday, call Pepper." Pick up, pick up, pick up, pick up. It went over, one, two, three, four, five six, seven, just as I gave up hope, someone picked up. "Pepper?" "Tony?" Pepper's voice sounded from the other side of the line. Thank god! "Tony, are you okay?" "Yeah, uh, I'm fine. Are you?" "Yes. Tony, what's happening?" "You remember those wizards?" "Yes..." "Well, I went to space with one of them and we were followed by Peter and there was this big alien and he kind of destroyed half of the population of the entire universe, so I'm here with another alien who I think is on the good side and we just landed on the roof of," I looked down, "The old Avengers tower... and I was wondering if you could pick us up." "What? Are Peter and the wizard there too?" "Well, the Wizard is called Dr. Strange actually." "Are they there?" "No..." "Oh god. Good, I'm coming. Stay there, or get yourselves on the ground." "Will do. And Pepper?" "Yes?" "Thank you." 

"Grab my arm," I told Nebula. "What?" "Just grab my arm." "What for?" "You'll see when you grab my arm!" She rolled her eyes in annoyance but did as I told her, she grabbed my outstretched right arm with her left one, which was made of metal. What's it with left arms being made out of metal? Why always the left arm? The Winter Soldier's metal arm is his left one too. Focus! I took off and to my surprise the alien woman yelped in surprise. "What the hell?" "Yeah, I can fly." We were on the ground a few seconds later. "So, what now?" "Now? Now we wait."


	2. Avengers assemble!

Natasha

"Who was that?" Steve asked me as I aggressively shoved my phone back into my pocket?" "It was Clint." He nodded. "How is he?" "Terrible." "His family?" "Gone." He looked at me with his eyes full of sympathy. "I'm sorry Nat." "It's not really my family anyway," even I heard the bitterness in my own voice. Steve looked shocked, "Nat?" "It's what Clint said... He got kind of angry after I told him about Wanda. Told me I didn't know what it felt like to lose someone I love and all that. So I replied by telling him that his family was like my family too, so he just went with, "Yeah, but not really!" so that's that." "That's..." "Probably just his grieving process." "That might be, but he shouldn't take it out on you." I shrugged. Steve gave an annoyed grunt, "You should stop that!" "Stop what?" "Acting like you don't care! I don't know if you know, but it's okay to care! It's okay to show that you care, to show that you have emotions! It's what makes us human!" I looked down at my feet, "I know," I whispered. "Then why do you keep doing this?" "It's a habit I guess. Emotions are a weakness... people can play on your emotions... If you don't show any, it's harder for your enemies to manipulate you." He put a hand on my shoulder, "Nat, we're not your enemies." "I know. I know that, it's just... I don't know. We're surrounded by people we don't know Steve. People I'm not sure whether I can trust them or not." He nodded in understanding, "And you don't like to open up in front of people you don't trust." It was a statement, just a statement. "I don't." "And if we were alone?" "I'd probably just sit down in the window to stare outside with a sad look on my face." God, what am I doing? Complaining about not wanting to show my feelings while Steve is probably dying inside after losing his best friend again, and his second best friend, or other best friend or whatever. And another good friends of his. And Wanda, someone he felt responsible for. "Now enough about me. How are you?" 

Shuri

Half of the universe was gone and suddenly I was a Queen. I know, being Queen sounds fun, but not when half of the population of your country is gone. Not when half the population of the entire world or the entire universe is gone. You'd think it couldn't get any worse from there, well, you're wrong. There was a call for the King of Wakanda, Okoye brought it in for me. "Yes?" "I answered the phone." Someone from a news company answered asking if he was speaking with the King of Wakanda. "No, this is his sister." "Is your brother there?" I might have felt like screaming at the news-reporter, but I was a Queen, so I couldn't. Also, it's impolite. "No, he's not." "So the King isn't home? Where is he?" I sighed. Just the question I wanted to hear. "He's dead." The reporter was silent for a while, then, "Oh, my condolences ma'am." "Thank you. What did you want to know from him." "Well, here were rumors... about... well about what happened." "You mean the disintegrating of half the universe?" "Yes, that." "What do the rumors say?" "They say Wakanda was involved." I hate rumors. "My country was involved yes, but mostly because it would be too dangerous to fight the aliens elsewhere." "Aliens?" Seriously, you heard Wakanda was involved but you didn't hear about the aliens? "Yes, aliens." "Just like in New-York?" "I don't know, I was twelve back then. Anyway, the leader of the aliens had acquired the power to wipe out half of the universe. That's what you can tell all those stupid other press mosquitoes who want to know what happened." I hung up. "Okoye, I have decided something?" "Yes?" "I hate the press." 

Tony

We arrived at my office somewhere early in the evening. Nebula decided to wait outside so Pepper and I could talk freely. "You know, you could have mentioned that she's blue." "Oops, I was thinking of something completely else, I lost Peter remember." She sighed, "I know." "God, what am I going to tell May?" "Well, what happened?" "The kid had a school trip and saw what was going on, so he decided to help... Then... well I gave him the new suit, the Iron-Spider, because he was on that giant-donut shaped spaceship and I activated the parachute to get him off she he'd land safely on the ground where he would have been safe, but that stubborn kid just decided to ignore my orders. So he went with us on the ship and he helped us kill this ugly noseless alien dude and... We fought against Thanos and suddenly he just... disappeared, disintegrated, turned to dust, whatever you want to call it!" "Then you should tell her that. I've she didn't turn to dust herself." I hadn't thought of that yet, but with my luck, she hadn't. "Well... yeah, I could tell her that, but I think she'd try to tear my face of or something. She doesn't like me, she never really liked me and this isn't going to make her like. It's more likely to make me hate her." Pepper sighed, "Fine, if she's still around, I'll tell her." "You're the best." "I know." "And I really don't deserve you." "No you don't. But I fell for you anyway. I guess you're going to try to find a way to get Peter and the rest of half of the universe back?" "Yes, I suppose you don't want me to?" "Well, I don't want you to be in danger, but I don't think I can stop you." "No you can't" I walked towards my office, but Pepper's voice stopped me in my tracks, "Tony?" I turned to face her, "Yes?" "Call him." I nodded and continued towards my office." 

Thor

Every time I closed my eyes I saw his triumphant grin. I heard his voice in my head "You should have gone for the head." He said and then he snapped his fingers. I shook my head, trying to get it out, but it didn't work, of course it didn't work. You can't just shake memories out of your head, like you can't shake off your feelings. And when I was sitting there in the common room of the Avengers quarters, I was feeling both grief and guilt. Grief for the friend I had lost... And even more grief for the brother I had lost. "Loki," I whispered softly, "I'm afraid the sun will never shine upon us again." The guilt, well, my actions in battle had been rash. I had wanted Thanos to die a painful death... but I should have aimed for the head, or maybe cut his hand of. Instead of that I decided to go for his chest. Stupid! What kind of King are you? Half of your population is dead and now you brought the whole universe in danger! You could have prevented this! "I'm sorry brother." 

I didn't know I was being watched, I didn't know someone was sitting on the windowsill, even before I entered the room and sat down on the couch because I couldn't sleep anyway. The silence made me think I was alone until, "He died a hero's death. At least, that's what I think, after all you told us." I looked up, "What?" "Can't sleep?" "No." "Yeah, neither can I." "What is keeping you awake?" "Sadness, anger maybe. I think it's part of the grieving process." The shadow in the window shifted soundlessly. "You think?" "I think." "Have you never grieved before?" "Not really no." "Why not?" "I never had to. I never had friends, never had a... a family. I still don't of course, but I have to admit, the Avengers, they're as close to a family as I've ever had." "Most of us have survived." "Yeah, most of us, Wanda and Vision are gone though." "Where is his body?" "They took it to Shuri's lab in the hope that she might be able to fix him up." I nodded, Shuri was the Queen of Wakanda and from what I'd heard she was smart, smart enough to compete with Tony. "Maybe she can." "Yeah, maybe she can, but then Wanda would still be gone. And who knows what happened to Tony?" Tony hadn't been there during the battle, it could be he had disappeared like so many others. It would be a waste, we could use him during a time like this. "He could be dead too, we don't know." I shook my head, "We need to believe, to believe that he's still alive." "Yeah, keep up the hope, stay positive, I know that speech." "It works." "Hope and I don't really go together, she usually disappoints me." "Still, it's the only thing we can do." Natasha sighed, "I'm afraid you're right." 

Steve

My phone vibrated on my nightstand, it's screen lighted up and I looked at it in annoyance. Can't the world just leave me alone already? I picked up my phone to decline the call, but then I saw the caller ID. Tony. I picked up before the phone could switch to voicemail, "Stark?" "Rogers." The line was silent for a while, a minute, maybe even longer, I almost thought he hung up, but then he spoke again, "It's been a while, hasn't it?" "It has yes." "A lot has happened." "Tony, where are you?" "New-York, why?" "Well, it's already passed midnight here..." "Sorry, didn't think of that." "That's, that's okay. Why have you decided to call me?" "Well, you gave me that phone-." I cut him off, "That's not what I meant. Why have you decided to call me now?" "Well, there's this big alien-." "Thanos." "Yeah, that one." "You met him?" "Sadly, yes." "What of him?" "You remember Spider-Man." "You mean the kid you took with you to Germany?" "Yes. That one." "He disappeared?" "He did yes. So, I was thinking about setting up a plan to bring him and the rest of the people who "died" back and I hoped you wanted to help me. Do you want to help me?" "Yes." "Because if you don't I'll still look for a-. Wait, did you just say yes?" "I did." "You want to help me?" "Tony, we need to work together to defeat that guy, and he needs to be stopped." "Who did you lose?" "Bucky, Sam, Wanda, T'Challa." "Wow, damn. How are the others?" "Bruce is fine, Thor's a disaster, Clint is freaking out and Natasha is, well, Natasha." "But they're alive?" "Yes, they're alive." Thank God. "I shall ask Shuri for permission for you to enter Wakanda." "Shuri?" "T'Challa's younger sister." "How old is she?" "Eighteen. She's Queen now." "Oh..." "Are there any others you want to take with you? Pepper maybe?" "No, it's too dangerous for her over there. However, there's this alien woman, she's a daughter of Thanos, but she hates his guts. She wants to help, I think." Oh great, another alien. "I'll talk about it with the others and I'll call you back as soon as I know Shuri's answer." "Thanks." "And Tony." "Yeah?" "I'm glad you're alive." 

Rocket

I was given a room somewhere close to the Avengers quarters. I have to say, that surprised me. To be honest, I was surprised they even gave me a room at all, most people just see me as an animal, they don't really think about the fact that my brain works just like theirs, that I can think and come to conclusions and all that. It might have been the fact that the Queen was a teenager who was really interested in the weapons I made, maybe that's why she decided to give me a room, maybe she was just nice, I don't know. I jumped onto the windowsill to look at the dark surroundings of the castle, I saw the dark woods in the distance. Groot would have loved this. I sighed, I kept thinking of the very last thing he said to me before he disintegrated. "Dad," he had said. I never knew he saw me as a father figure, he never called me that before. "Rabbit?" The door had opened and Thor, who turned out to be the friggin' King of friggin' Asgard, which made him a friggin' God, was standing in the doorway. He kept calling me rabbit, I don't know why, but I honestly didn't mind that much, especially not then, not after losing Groot, not after losing my son. "Yeah?" "Your presence is requested." "Oh. What for?" "Well, you're part of the team... It's about setting up a plan to try to get everyone back." Well, that's something. "In that case, I'm in." "Come with me then," he said as he held the door open for me. I nodded and jumped off the windowsill. He closed the door behind me and led me to the Avengers common room. There his friends stood, waiting for us. The guy with the beard, Steve, nodded towards us in acknowledgement. "Thanks for picking him up Thor, now that we're all here, there's something I need to tell you first." "Wait, I thought we were going to set up a plan?" I said in confusion, "What's there to say?" "Well... I got a call." He sighed and I realized this was going to take a while. 

"I know it's late, I'm sorry for that, but this is important." "Just get to your point man." "Oh great, the raccoon's a little impatient git," I heard the blonde woman mumble. "With sharp ears, and probably a higher IQ than you" I snapped at her. "I doubt that." "Why? Because I'm an animal? Go ahead, underestimate me..." Yeah, that was a threat. "Rabbit, please." "Thor, he's a raccoon." "I'm not a damned raccoon!" "I didn't say anything about you being damned." "GUYS!" We all turned to Steve, "Stop it, this is important okay? The call I received was from Tony!" The expressions on the faces of the people surrounding me changed, it was as if they were relieved. "So he's alive then?" A dark-skinned guy with something weird around his legs asked. "Yes, he is. He fought Thanos too, he said he got here with another alien, one that's on our side." Why do they keep calling us aliens? Ugh, Terrans. They're not that bad though, I was used to them, well, to Peter. "Did he mention a name?" "No, but he mentioned her being a daughter of Thanos and that she hates his guts." "Sounds like fun," the blonde woman brought in. "Did he mention a skin-color?" That was all had to know. "No." Oh damn. Well, it didn't really matter, both of them were determined to do whatever it takes to kill Thanos. "He wants her to come with him to Wakanda, that's what I wanted to discuss with you." "Another alien? Really? I don't think that's a good idea," the blonde woman, of whom I just remembered her name was Natasha, said. "Nat's got a point there," the guy with glasses, Bruce, said, "I've seen some of those "Children of Thanos," and they're not very friendly." "Well, this one's on our side," I said. "How can you be sure of that?" Natasha was really starting to annoy me, but I have to admit, she did have every reason to distrust it, and she had enough reasons to doubt me. She mostly annoyed me because she somehow reminded me of Gamora when I first met her, stoic, distrusting, I didn't know why it bothered me that much, but it gave me a bad feeling, as if something had happened to her. "Because, there are only two of Thanos's children who hate his guts, the Black Order is loyal to him, Corvus Glaive, Ebony Maw, Cull Obsidian and Proxima Midnight, but there are two others... Nebula and Gamora. They hate him, really hate him." "You met them or something?" "I happened to have worked with both of them. I don't care which of the two it is, well, I'd rather have it be Gamora, but that's just because I know her better, but I do know that they both want him dead. I know she'll help us." Natasha nodded, "Good, if the raccoon says she can come, then let her come." "Don't call me a raccoon." "Why not?" "Cause I'm not a raccoon, I might have been once, but now, no, I'm not a raccoon, not anymore." She gave me a considering look, then she turned to Steve again, "What do you think of it?" Just like Gamora, she asks her leader... Although she clearly made up her mind. "Well, if both Tony and Rocket say that she's on our side, then I think we should give her a chance. What do you all think?" "I stand with the rabbit." Bruce nodded, "We need all the fighters we can get, and I trust Tony's judgement." "I think you should ask the Queen first," the guy with the leg braces said, "but I'm okay with it." Steve nodded, "Good, I'll ask Shuri first thing this morning, but we need to sleep first. We've all had a though day and we need to rest." 

Of course, none of us went to bed. Natasha went to sit in the window, Thor sat down on the couch, the other three, well, they might have retreated to their bedrooms, but from the sounds coming from their rooms, mostly music, it was clear that they weren't sleeping. I decided to stay in the common room, I didn't know what to do with myself if I'd be alone anyway. I jumped onto the windowsill, not caring that there was someone else sitting there, I just wanted to stare out of the window. Yeah, I could do that in my room too, but I didn't want to be alone. "Enjoying the view?" I turned my head to see that Natasha was staring at me. "Well, kinda." "Kinda?" "Yeah, kinda." She looked me up and down, then turned her head to look outside again. "Sorry for calling you an impatient git." I sighed, "Well, it's nothing I haven't heard before." "I'm just not that used to talking animals." "Yeah, what made you trust my judgement?" "Who says I have decided to trust your judgement. All you did was state the facts." "True... But I saw something." "What?" "Your expression changed." "You might have imagined it." "Well, I don't think so." It's funny how talks like this came easier after a few years. And I was talking to a stranger for heaven's sake! Maybe it's so easy to talk to her because she reminds me of Gamora. That must have been it. "Maybe it's because you look kinda cute, raccoons look cute." "You don't strike me as the kind of person who falls for "cute" and I'm not a raccoon." "Never forget what you are, the rest of the world will not. Wear it like a shield, so it can never be used against you." "Huh?" "It's from a TV series." "Hmmm." Maybe those Terrans are smarter than I thought. "You wanna know the truth?" "Yeah." "I pity you." "You what now?" "I pitied you... the way you said you're not a raccoon... not anymore. I already suspected that you were an experiment... Seems like my suspicions were right. Oh great, they left me alone with a raccoon. Great friends I have." I turned to the couch to see that Thor had silently left the room. "How can that big guy move so silently?" Natasha shrugged, "Maybe it's a God thing." "Yeah, probably." "You know, I'm kinda surprised you didn't claw my eyes out," she said out of the blue. "What?" "You seemed quite angry with me." "Oh, that, nah, you just annoyed me." "Hmmm, I seem to have a talent for that." "What?" "I'm kidding." "Oh..." Wait a minute, she changed the subject, twice! "Why do you pity me?" "What?" "You said you pitied me." "So?" "I wondered why." "Well... I don't think you chose to be an experiment. It's no fun being turned into something you don't want to be against your will." Okay, there's a story behind that. But I wasn't gonna ask, not yet. I've lived with Gamora long enough to realize when it was okay to ask a woman like that questions and when to leave her alone. "No, it's no fun at all. You wanna know why I was so annoyed with you? Because you remind me of someone, someone I care about." 

Bruce

I walked into the common room for a late night snack. I couldn't sleep... I didn't lose anyone that I was close too, I didn't know Wanda that well and a part of me was still angry for what she'd showed me. Get over it Bruce, it's been three years. Three years since I'd been on Earth. As I walked over to the fridge I saw someone sitting in the window, well, two someone's actually. Natasha, with the raccoon, Rocket, who was curled up against her legs. They were asleep. I stopped for a moment, just staring at them and I smiled. "Bruce?" It was Steve. "Ssssshhh!" "What?" I pointed to the window. "Well, that's a plot twist." "Yeah, a little. She's always been a bit of an animal person." "I don't think Rocket considers himself an animal." "Yeah, maybe not. So, why are you up?" "Can't sleep. You?" "Same, and I'm hungry." "So that's where you were going." "Yeah, and where were you going?" "Looking for Shuri." "She might be asleep." "I don't think so... She lost her brother, she lost her father two years ago." "Seriously? Poor kid." "Yeah." "She's too young for so great a loss." "Yeah, but you know... life's unfair. And nobody is ever ready for so great a loss." "True, very true... You speak as if you suffered great losses yourself." "Well, I lost my parents, my best friend, then I went under the ice and pretty much lost everyone that I cared about. I made friends, found my best friend back, and then I lost him again, together with three other friends." "Oh, yeah." "How about you?" "What?" "Did you ever suffer any great losses?" Yes, yes I did, greater than I wanted, and at my own hands too. I nodded, "Yes." "Who?" My family, my wife, my kids. "You know, people I cared about." Steve remained silent, he knew better than to ask. 

Pepper

"What do you mean, "you're going without me"?" "Well, it kind of speaks for itself right?" Tony replied. "You're not coming with me to Wakanda." "Tony... Don't leave me, not again, please." He sighed, "Pepper, I just want to protect you." "I'll be safe there in Wakanda! I'll be protected, it's the safest country on the planet!" "You'll be target there! I'm not going to make you a target for those damned aliens!" "I don't care about that!" "Pepper, you're the only thing I can't live without, okay?" "You've said that before." "I meant that then, and I mean it now," he rubbed his temples and let his hand slid down his face, "Look, I... could take you with me, but we'd probably go to space... and I can't take you up there, I just can't, okay? Because, maybe Wakanda isn't dangerous, but space is, okay?" I nodded, space was dangerous, I knew that. "So, it might be better to just... say our goodbyes here, it might be better for you to wait here, wait till I come back." "Really?" "Well... if I die." "I'd only get a phone call, you think I'd be satisfied with a phone call." "It... it might seem less real, less hurting then when you get told face to face." "That is the stupidest thing you've ever said. And you've said a lot of stupid things." He rolled his eyes, "Thanks." "You're welcome." "So, I suppose I can't stop you? You're determined to come along?" "I am. And no, you can't stop me, not this time." "You know, you're still the CEO of Stark industries." "this is more important, and a lot of our employees are dead, Happy being one of them." "What?" I sighed, "Happy's gone." "Why didn't you tell me before?" "It didn't seem like the right moment." "Oh... Oh man." 

The phone rang in the middle of the night, Tony was asleep and miraculously slept through the loud and annoying sound the phone made, so I picked up. I expected it to be Steve, but the voice that answered me was that of a young woman, "Is this Tony Stark?" "Well, no, it's his fiancée, Tony's asleep." "Ah, yes, your name's Pepper, right?" "It's what most people call me. And you are." "Shuri, I mean, Queen Shuri of Wakanda." "T'Challa's younger sister, right?" "Yes. I called to tell Tony that he has permission to come to Wakanda, I'd like to meet him... Scientist thing. Right now there's a jet preparing to pick up four people." "Four?" "Yes, four, Tony and the alien woman, and then there's you." "I thought Tony told Steve he was coming with Nebula only." "He did, but Steve knew you wouldn't give in to that. He knew you'd want to come," Shuri sounded amused. "Who's the fourth person?" "That'll be Clint." "But nobody knows where he lives." "Correction, almost nobody knows where he lives, the person who will be flying the yet, well, she won't have trouble finding both New-York and Clint's house. She might be a little tired though, but she's sleeping now..." "Natasha's picking us up?" "Yes, together with a mutated raccoon that makes weapons, which is pretty cool." Teenagers. "And Steve will be there too of course. They'll pick up you guys first, then Clint and then they'll head back to Wakanda." "Does Clint know about this?" "No." "Is anybody going to tell him?" "Well, Natasha seems kinda angry with him, so, probably not." "You sound like you find it amusing." "I just wish I could see that guy's face if a jet suddenly lands in front of his house to take him to Wakanda." "Really?" "It's the little things, Ms. Potts. It's the little things," and with that she hung up. "Teenagers," I said out loud this time. 

Clint

So, after all the panic and the phone call in which I fucked up big time, I fell asleep on the couch. I was surprised I could sleep, but, well, I had been working on the farm all day, so I was tired as a plow horse after a long day of plowing, because what else does a plow horse do? I was sleeping beautifully, with my legs spread out as wide as they could, one of them flung over the back of the couch, one arm dangling off the couch, my hand brushing the ground and I might have been drooling a little. Then suddenly I was awoken by a very loud and very annoying sound. The doorbell. I said something that sounded like "Hmpghaat?" Then the bell sounded again, longer this time, as if the person ringing the bell had gotten impatient. "GO AWAY!" I yelled. "NO!" "WHY NOT?" "BECAUSE YOUR PRESENCE HAS BEEN REQUESTED AGENT BARTON!" Agent Barton? Man, it's been a long time since she called me that... Wait, that's Natasha at the door? To take me to Wakanda? "NAT?" "NO!" "PRETTY SURE IT'S YOU!" "Please stop the yelling," she said, suddenly standing beside me, "And my name's Natasha." How in the hell does she move so soundlessly and how did she get in? Oh, right, she has a key. I gave her that key. How could I forget I gave her that key? "Really? You're taking away the permission for me to call you Nat?" "Be glad I'm not making you call me Romanoff." "Are you really that angry?" "Maybe." "Oh come on! I was freaking out!" "So was I, but did I snap at you? No, I didn't, now get your lazy ass off of that couch agent Barton, we're going for a ride." 

On the ship I found Steve, Tony, Pepper, a blue woman who's called Nebula and a raccoon. "Why the raccoon?" "Don't call him a raccoon, he hates it," was the only explanation Natasha gave me. I turned to Steve, "Why the raccoon?" "His name is Rocket, and he's a friends of Thor, he came with us because he knows Nebula." "Ah..." I glanced at Natasha, who was now piloting the ship. Well, that explains how they found me. "She's mad at you. She says she wasn't, she said she knew it was only because you were grieving, but you know Nat." Yeah, I know how she is, and I hurt her. And if you hurt her... well, she tries not to show that you hurt her by turning her pain into anger and then directs that anger towards you. "Yeah, I know. Better than you do probably..." I also knew that it usually lasted for a day our three, a week if you got her really angry. And I knew that at one point she'd snap and the hurt would come out. I sighed, "I fucked up." "It could have been worse..." "I lost my family, my best friend is angry at me because I hurt her-." "Don't talk about me like I can't hear you!" "Really, she's never been this angry with me-." "Barton!" "And you say things could have been worse?" "Yes, you could have died too, leaving another of your family members alive... all alone." "Well, I'd rather have that." "Even if it were just Nathaniel?" Okay, he has a point there. "I'm sure somebody would have picked him up to take care of him," Steve and I both glanced towards Natasha, who was definitely eavesdropping. "Yeah, probably, but still." "Yeah, I get what you're going at, he wouldn't have had any family left." That was the wrong thing to say, I saw Natasha tense out of the corners of my eyes and I sighed, "No blood related family anyways." I hoped that made up for it, even if it was just a little. I should really learn to control myself more when I'm panicking. God, I thought I could control myself. Where the hell did all of this come from? Is it normal to lose control when you lose nearly everyone you care about? It was then that I decided I had to talk to Nat. Today, not a week from now, not tomorrow. No. Today

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, yeah, a part of the conversation between Nat and Clint is missing, but hey.... there will be some other errors and mistakes that I have made... and I have fixed them all... don't worry... and please continue reading...


	3. Time for revenge and hair dye

Nebula

"Didn't think I'd ever see you again," a voice said behind me. I turned to and then looked down to find the fox standing behind me. I heard Gamora's voice in my head. "He's not a fox." "Neither did I expect to see you again." "And yet, we meet." "And yet we meet." He sighed, "Do you... do you know anything about the others? Tony said something about you kind of crashing in on them on Titan." "I did..." "So, you know about their statuses?" "You didn't ask Tony?" "Nah..." "Why not?" He shrugged, "I don't know. Maybe I'd rather have someone I know tell me that they're..." "Dead?" "Are they?" "Most of them are not beyond saving." "Good. Wait, most of them?" I looked down at my feet, "Yeah... most of them..." "Oh, oh god, you mean one of them is really dead? One of my friends is really dead? Who is it?" He was silent for a while, waiting for an answer most, or so I thought. It could be he was taking me in, the way I was standing, how I was looking down at my feet still. "Gamora," he then whispered. "It's Gamora, isn't it?" I nodded, "Yes," I whispered and, to my own surprise, my voice sounded choked up. "Oh man... Oh man," he said right before he picked something off the ground and threw it all the way to the other side of the plane. The woman flying ducked just in time, I suspect she heard it coming. It went through the window. The others all stared at Rocket. "What?" He asked them angrily as he noticed they were all staring at him. "Ya got a problem?" "You threw something through the window!" Stark told him angrily. "So?" "Well, we need to repair that! The air pressure could take the whole window out, and us with it!" "Yeah, that'd be great!" "Ugh, animals." "Tony, leave him." The blonde woman had stood up from her piloting position and was walking over to Stark. "He broke the window!" "I suppose that's an easy fix for a genius like you." The plane tilted down, obviously turned to autopilot with the command to land. "Of course it is." "Then quit whining and get to work!" "You defending the animal now?" "Yeah, so?" "But, he's... well, weird." "If your definition of weird is misunderstood, smart and caring without daring to show it because he's afraid to lose the people he cares about then I know someone else who fits that description," she snapped at him. He looked away, "Fine, I'll fix it." What the hell? 

While on the ground I got another chance to talk to Rocket. "What was that about?" "What?" "That woman standing up for you..." "Well, we had a talk. Mind you, she wasn't really nice to me at first, but then we talked... and well, she reminded me of someone... and she said I reminded her of someone too. She said she's pretty good at reading characters... Not quite sure if she is, but, you know..." "It could be she is." "She sure is threatening. That's fun." "Yeah, threatening people are great to hang around with," I said sarcastically. "Well, it's not like you're used to any different." "Thanks." He's right though. Thanos, Corvus, Ebony, Cull, Proxima, Ronan... Gamora. I sighed. "Yeah, I know, that's not really a nice way to lead your life, but hey, it's not like I'm used to any different." "You want to call Quill, Groot ant that insect-woman, what's her name again?" "Mantis." "Yeah, she, you want to call them threatening?" "Well, not at first glance, but you've never seen Groot put his arm through someone's chest. And you've seen what Peter can do." "When he still had his Celestial powers." "He's still a pretty good fighter." "didn't know you were that fond of him." "I'm not!" "Sure fox." "I'm not a fox!" "If you say so." "And for Mantis, she managed to put Ego, a Celestial to sleep without his permission. Yeah, she's strong, and her power can be threatening, although it doesn't seem that useful at first!" Keep telling yourself you're not fond of 'em little fox. Nobody believes you. I rolled my eyes. "What?" "Nothing." "No, what's it?" "Nothing," I said again and I walked off before he could ask again. I knew he knew better than to follow me. 

Natasha 

We had landed close to Seattle, so I decided to take out the motorbike that was stored in the back of the jet and ride all the way to Seattle for one very important thing. Hair dye. I was no longer on the run, so why not go back to my signature look right? Also, I liked the red hair way better. It might be a reminder of Natalia, but, well, I could have had worse reminders of who I once was. They were waiting for me as I got back, all of them looking slightly impatient. "Where the hell did you go?" "Seattle." "Why?" "Because I needed something." I was not about to start another discussion with Tony. "And what is it that you needed?" Seemed like he was about to start another discussion with me though. "That," I said calmly, "is none of your business." I kicked the motorbike back to live to store it in the jet's storing space. 

I was just getting back up when Tony took off with the jet. But, in his haste, he took off to fast and the motor quit for a few seconds and we dropped back to the ground. Luckily he managed to get it back on right before we actually hit the ground. "Smooth," I told him, still standing on the wobbly metal stairs." "You think you could have done better?" "Hmm, good question. I have a question for you, please, could you remind me who was flying this plane before we landed?" "That was you." "And did we almost drop to our deaths when I was flying?" "Oh shut up!" "Tony, Natasha, please." "Shut up Rogers," we replied in unison. He glared at the both of us, then he smiled and said, "Well, you guys might not really like each other, but you sure as hell share a connection, saying the same thing at the same time and all." I rolled my eyes and sighed." "I agree with Natasha," Tony said. "Don't, you're making it worse," I told him. "People might suspect that we actually care about each other somewhere deep inside ourselves." Which we did of course, but we sure as hell weren't going to tell anyone. "Oops, sorry." "Is this normal?" I heard Rocket ask. "It is," both Steve and Pepper told him. "Hey, Rogers, stop having a "saying the same thing at the same time" connection with my fiancée, okay?" "Your fiancée?" Steve asked. "Well it was about time!" I said before Tony could answer. "Shut up." "I've been waiting for this for eight years!" "Please shut up!" "No." "Oh god. I shouldn't have said that." Oh how I missed teasing that guy. "On the contrary, you should have mentioned it before." "Nat..." "Tony..." "Why?" "I suppose you weren't planning on inviting the Avengers?" "He wasn't, but I was. I knew he'd be happier with you guys around," Pepper replied. "You where what now?" "It would have made you happier to have your best friends around on a special day like that, Tony. You know it's true." "Yeah, but you could have at least told me." "Are you really that surprised?" "Well... no, I'm not." 

I stretched my arms and legs, my muscles were still sore from the fight of the day before. God I wish there was a bed here, or maybe a couch, I don't really like sleeping sitting up in a chair. It's not like I had another option though. I sighed and closed my eyes. "So, what did you do when you went off on your own?" A slightly robotic sounding voice asked me. I opened one eye, "Hmm?" "You said you were doing something important," the blue alien woman in front of me, Nebula, said. "Well, important to me." "Meaning?" I shrugged and showed her the hair dye. "What's that?" "Hair dye." The confused look she gave me told me that she had never heard of hair dye before. "It changes the color of your hair." "Why would you want to change the color of your hair?" I yawned, "Because this is not my natural color." "And that is?" "Yeah. Not sure if it's exactly right, but the human eye would not be able to spot the difference between this and my real hair color once my hair gets longer." "So it's the same color." "Yes." I yawned again. "Tired?" "I might have slept an hour or two last night." "That'd be about as much as I need." "I actually need about at least four hours of sleep, but I can function on less. I can function at least three days without sleep, but I don't really like the consequences of that, so I'm not doing that again." "What are the consequences?" "I pass out." "I could have expected that." "Yeah, it's not that surprising." There was a silence for a while. A slightly awkward silence. "so you're a daughter of Thanos?" "I wish people would stop calling me that. I've always hated it when someone said it." "You're raised by Thanos though, right?" "Yes." "Together with two adoptive sisters and three adoptive brothers." "How do you-." "Rocket told me," I said before she could finish the question. "Of course he did, the annoying little fox." "He's not a fox." Her expression changed for a split second when I said that, it happened so fast I almost thought I'd imagined it. Almost. 

Nebula

I sat down next to the blonde woman... Natasha I mean. "Yeah, I know." "Then why do you call him a fox?" That is a good question. "To annoy him I guess." "People don't like it when you annoy them." "Well, obviously, that's why it annoys them." She glanced at me, a small smile playing around her lips, "That's true. I might have phrased that wrong." "Possibly, yes." She rolled her eyes. "Okay, fine, I should have said something else. Like: People don't like being annoyed." "Which is why they get annoyed by something that annoys them." "Are you always like this?" "Like what? Annoying?" "Well... kinda." "People say so." "Oh." "People don't really like me. I was a very angry person in the past. I still am." "Hmmm, bad childhood I take it?" "Yeah." "I get that. I mean, not all of us turn into angry psychopaths, but some do." "All of us?" "Oh, you picked that up huh? Well, let's just say, my childhood wasn't easy either." "Probably still a lot easier than mine though." "Depends..." If only I could have raised an eyebrow, but alas, my people don't grow hair anywhere on their body. We're completely bald, so I couldn't. "Look at me, what do you see?" "An alien." I scoffed, "Besides that!" "Metal, wires, you're a cyborg." "I am." "Someone did this to you when you were a kid?" She looked mildly horrified. "Yes." "Wow. Having to kill children from your own age from the age of... twelve.. fourteen, something close to that, well, that doesn't even come close..." "What are you talking about?" "Did I say that out loud?" "You did." "Oh. Well, it's about my own training." "You were trained?" "I'm an assassin." "Well, welcome to the club." "Should we get matching jackets now or is that too much?" 

Rocket

"So... sorry for calling you an animal," I heard a voice behind me say to me. I turned around to find that tony guy Nebula travelled to Terra with. "I'm used to it," I told him, "but thanks." "So... I heard you make weapons." "I do, when I feel like it, sometimes I make bombs too... but Peter... well... he told me I couldn't make any more bombs because he was afraid I'd blow up the ship one day." "You can make bombs?" "That blow up moons or the occasional Celestial being." He smiled, "You're not bragging, are you?" "No, of course not, I really blew up a Celestial once. Okay, I'll admit, Groot turned the bomb on, but I made it. Good thing he didn't press the instant death button." "Maybe you shouldn't put an instant death button on it... You know, just a suggestion." "Eh, maybe yeah." "You know, if it's not on there, nobody can press it. Simple logic." "It's fun though, and a last resort. Sometimes you gotta kill yourself so the bad guy can't get the thing he wants." "Yeah, that's true. But only if the thing he wants is with you of course. And if the bomb could destroy it." "Oh believe me, it could." "You sound pretty sure of yourself." "I was created to do this kind of stuff. Fly space-ships, build weapons, I'm pretty good at it." "Created?" "Yeah, I was a raccoon once, not anymore." "Hmmm... You know, I designed weapons once... I could make them too of course... But I don't do that anymore." "Why?" "Because I want to protect the world... not destroy it. My weapons got in the wrong hands you see..." "Yeah... I see. And... protecting is better than destroying... That's why I usually build guns. To protect the people I care about from the people who want to hurt them... Of course they didn't stand a chance against Thanos..." "You were a friend of those Guardians of the Galaxy, right?" "I'm one of them..." "And they are the people you want to protect?" "Well, I need to get them back first... all of them... Then we're gonna murder Thanos, maybe put him on a moon and blow him up, don't think Gamora would complain about that..." "She complained about blowing up moons before?" "Yeah, when she still sucked the joy out of everything..." "I take it she was very serious and closed off and all that?" "Yeah, she was." "Hmmm... And you're more the type of guy who runs into battle with e gun while shouting and laughing and who makes weapons and sometimes drinks a little too much and act's very though, but actually cares a lot but who's afraid to show it and all." "How did you guess?" "I know those kind of people..." 

Steve

It was a little strange to see Tony talk to Rocket all of a sudden, but I think he understood what Natasha had meant. She had said that Rocket was quite like someone else she knew. Smart, distant, caring, maybe even underestimated... all of that. It might have reminded her of Tony. At least, that's what I think. Rocket certainly does remind me of Tony for a bit. I sighed. "You okay there Cap?" It was Clint. "Yeah, I'm fine. You?" "Could have been better, waaay better." "Yeah, I thought so... You're planning to talk to Nat, right?" "Yes." "You shouldn't." "Why not." "Give her some time, she'll come to you." "Ya think?" "I know. I've spend the last two years with her before the battle in Wakanda. I've known her since 2012, I'll admit, that's not as long as you've known her, but it's still six years..." "Yeah, well... I want to talk to her." "You know that she'll just avoid you until she wants to talk to you because she can be a stubborn ass, right?" He snorted, "That's true." I silently heard Nat mumble, "Thanks boys," but I paid no attention to it. She knew it to be true. "So, you think I should just wait for her to come to me?" I nodded, "Yeah, and in the meantime, you can grieve over your family." "Just as she'll be doing." "That's likely. And after that both of your heads will be much clearer, you'll be able to tell each other how you're feeling without the grief clouding it all..." "Then why are we going to set up a plan right after all that happened?" "Because we need the grief now, to drive us. It gives us anger and a thirst for revenge." "Okay, good reason... So, basically we're back to avenging I take it?" I smiled, "Well, we are the Avengers, are we not?" "Yeah, and we just assembled." 

The flight to Wakanda didn't take too long from that point. We were there in about one hour from where we landed to get the window repaired. Shuri was waiting to welcome the new guests. "Good uh... morning," she said stifling a yawn. "And welcome to Wakanda." She turned to Tony, "It is my pleasure to welcome you and your fiancée here, Mr. Stark. I've seen your work, and I'm very impressed by what I've seen, and very interested in what else you might be able to do." Tony smiled, "Thank you, Queen Shuri, and please, call me Tony." Natasha leaned over to him and whispered, "She's a tech-nerd," into his ear. "I heard that Nat." "Oops." Shuri turned to Clint, "Mr. Barton, welcome to Wakanda, your help will be most appreciated. I have heard that you never miss. Is that correct?" "Let's just say you don't wanna play golf with me, Queen Shuri." "I'll keep it in mind." She turned to Nebula. "And you... Well I've heard quite some things about you." 

Shuri

I have to admit that her being a cyborg was really awesome but as the Queen of Wakanda I had to restrain myself. "What is it that you heard about me?" "That you have some insight regarding our enemy, that you seek revenge on him because he tried to turn you into a living weapon... And he succeeded I see." "I do indeed seek revenge for what he did. I want him dead for all of this," she pointed at herself. "For what he did to me and my sister." She has a metal arm! And I'm sure there is some kind of communication system inside her head... I mean... look at it. Could she project her memories? Focus Shuri, focus! "In that case, feel welcome, you should be treated like all of our other honored guests." "Honored guests?" "We don't allow that many people to enter Wakanda, even though we opened our borders to the rest of the world, it's mostly for trade, and we certainly don't allow that many beings from other planets on our grounds. You should feel honored." She nodded, "Thank you, Queen Shuri." Would she allow me to examine her? Probably not... I could still ask her though, tell her it's just for research purposes, or to make her stronger. The Avengers walked past me. Natasha leaned over and whispered, "I wouldn't," as if she knew what I was thinking of. 

As the Avengers walked by, something strange happened. There was a guy who seemed to appear out of nowhere. Okoye reacted with lightning speed, "Who are you, and what are you doing here?" I uh... I'm Scott, Scott Lang. I'm uh... Ant-Man. I uh... was hiding, in Stark's house, I would have been hiding in Clint's house if I knew where to find it but... well, I didn't, so..." "You want to help us?" I asked him. "Yes, I lost some people I cared about thanks to that Thanos guy. I heard the story... And I want to help. You can trust me, ask Steve." I nodded, "I will," I turned, "Steve?" "Yes," he was still there, "I know Scott, he helped me once." "So we can trust him." "Yeah, we can." "Good," I turned back to Scott, "Now how did you do that?" "Do what?" "Appear out of nowhere." "Oh, that, it's simple, I was tiny, very very tiny." "You can shrink?" "Yeah, it's Pym's technology." "Hank Pym... I've heard of him." "Good..." he sighed, "I'm sorry I came alone by the way, Ant-Man should be accompanied by the Wasp... but she..." "She's gone, isn't she? Like my brother..." "I suppose so yes." "And that is why you came here? To get her back?" He nodded, "Yes." 

Scott

"Well, welcome to Wakanda I suppose," Steve said as I caught up to him. "Thanks..." "So, the Wasp?" "She uh... she was my partner... she trained me and..." "You love her?" "Well, yes." "And she's gone?" I sighed, "Yes." "So you want revenge." "I do." "You're in the right place then." "Good... can I ask you something?" "Sure." "That girl, the Queen, why is she so interested in all this tech stuff?" Steve shrugged, "She just likes it, she's a bit of a tech-nerd, like Nat already said. She made the suit her brother was wearing in Germany." "She's the sister of T'Challa right? The Black Panther?" "Yes, she is." "He died?" "Disintegrated, like my friends, Bucky, and Sam." "The guy with the metal arm and the guy who kept calling me Tic-Tac." "That's them yes," Steve said with a small grin playing around his lips. "I'm sorry to hear they're gone." He sighed, "Thanks, I'm sorry the woman you love is gone." "Thanks." "And I'm glad to have you here Scott. I've seen what you can do..." "Well, not all of it... I'm an engineer you know... Or, at least I could be... If I could get a job..." "Being a superhero isn't really a job huh?" "No, not really." "Your daughter?" "She's with her mother, they're both fine." "Well, at least somebody's family is alright." "Clint's is gone?" "Yeah, completely... And... the Avengers are my family... and they're not complete. Not without Wanda or Sam... And Bucky... my family will never be complete without my best friend."

Wakanda, as it was back then, was depressing. Half of its citizens gone, half of the inhabiting animals gone... which was even more creepy, cause this was Africa and Africa has a lot of wildlife... or had. All of the people were depressed, tired or wounded, or a mix of those things, I was no exception, I was mostly depressed and tired though. I was given a room with a door that led to what they called, the Avengers common room, it would have been funny if I weren't feeling so damn tired and depressed. 

"What are all those ants doing here?" I heard a male voice ask outside of my room. "I think they belong to Scott," Natasha answered. "The Ant-Man guy?" "Yes Bruce, the Ant-Man guy." Bruce? Is that Bruce Banner? The Hulk? I stood up and walked over to the door which I pushed open ever so slightly to watch what was going on. There were indeed a lot of ants crawling around, and Bruce Banner was surrounded by them. I pushed the door completely open, "Sorry about that, it's hard to control them when I get a little emotional, I didn't even know they followed me." "Oh..." "I'm Scott by the way, Scott Lang." "Bruce Banner," Bruce said. "Yeah, I know," I reached my hand out and he took it to shake it, meanwhile, the ants retreated and climbed out of a the window in a neat line because I told them to. "Fascinating," Steve, who was also in the room, said as he stared after the ants. "You control them?" "Yeah, I do. With the help of Pym's tech of course." "Could you... maybe, make them big?" "I... could, but only a few. Why?" "Cause ants are nearly indestructible, and if you can tell them what to do... would be fun to see those alien fuckers trying to fight giant ants." "Steve!" Natasha's voice sounded through the room. "What?" "How dare you use that word?" "Nat... really?" She smiled and winked. Then she walked off into her own room. "You guys will never get over that joke, will you?" "Probably not no," Tony said as he walked into the room. Steve sighed, "I'm screwed then." Bruce gasped, "Now you're doing it again!" "Quit the bad language Steve!" I smiled, I could see what Steve had meant back out there when he'd said the Avengers are his family. They looked like a family, they even behaved like one. Maybe I can fit in. 

Bruce

Steve had been right when he'd said that Scott controlling those ants was fascinating. So, of course, as scientists, Tony and I questioned Scott about the connection between him and the ants. Unfortunately, he didn't want to tell us much, or maybe he really didn't know that much about it. It could have been either one of those. He did hand us over one of the devices that could enlarge the ants though, and an ant helmet. He told us that he'd need more ants, and more of those devices if we wanted to use the ants in battle. So we left them in the lab to examine them later. About that lab, when Tony entered that lab he looked like a kid in a candy shop. His eyes went big and wide and he smiled brighter than I'd seen him smile in the past few hours. "You like it?" Queen Shuri asked him. "This place is great," he replied. "Thanks, I build it... with some help of course, but most of it is me." "You build this yourself?" "Yes. Why?" "You're smart, aren't you?" "People say so." "Can I adopt you?" "Don't think so, I'm eighteen by now," she was smiling though. I think she liked to be praised by another genius. "What's that you got there?" She asked us. "Little ant-helmets." "What? Why?" "For Scott, so he can control the ants." "And the other thing?" "It makes the ants grow." "And you want to make more of them?" "Yes." "So the ants can fight?" "Yes, ants are nearly indestructible, would be fun to see them fight, right?" Shuri smiled, "Yeah, it would. And with the tree of us I bet we'll be able to make a lot of them." Tony and I smiled, mostly because of her enthusiasm, "Yeah, we are," I replied. "Shall we get to work then?" "Yeah... but we need to remember to make them in different sizes for the different kinds of ants. I do think you have some native species of ants here?" "We don't, but we do have a lot of poisonous and venomous ants here." "Good, we could use some of those venomous ones. I bet you got a suit that'll allow us to catch them." "Of course I do."

We worked in the lab for several hours, first examining the devices, then putting them back together to learn how to make new ones. Shuri had enough materials to make some, but she ordered more nevertheless, "Just so we can continue tomorrow," she said. At the end of the day we had made fifteen helmets each, those things are small okay, makes it hard to make them, and ten of the enlargement devises. And if there's one thing I can tell you about making nano-tech, it's more tiring than it looks, or sounds, way more tiring. At the end of the day, the three of us were exhausted, but we could at least make a small army of giant ants. "You'll be back tomorrow, right?" "Yeah, sure," both Tony and I replied before we left. 

"That kid is amazing," Tony said. "Yeah, she's good." "She's smarter than me!" "Well, she grew up in Wakanda, with a lot of resources." "That she certainly did. Doesn't make her less smart though." "No, it doesn't, but it gives an explanation as to why she's so smart." "I don't care why she's so smart, I just care that she is. And I'm glad there's a lab here." "So you can hang around there and work on your suits when you can't sleep?" "For example, or maybe just to repair my stuff. How's the Hulk-Buster doing?" "Well... it's uh..." "Broken, yeah, I heard." "You want to repair it?" "Well, it is my suit, so yeah." "Can I still borrow it?" "If you need to." "Thanks." "Hey, you're my friend Bruce, and those are rare. So, of course I'm more than willing to help them." I smiled, Tony is a much better person than most people give him credit for, unfortunately, he's one of "most people" himself. 

"What the?" Tony said as he stood in the doorframe to the Avengers common room. "You're surprised?" "Well... uh." "What? What am I missing?" "You're missing nothing Bruce, just the fact that I dyed my hair," it was Natasha's voice. "What color?" asked. "What do you think?" Tony walked into the room so I could see for myself. Nat was sitting on the couch, her hair framing her face like flames. God, she's gorgeous. What? It's a fact... I don't have feelings for her. Not anymore... "You look good," I told her. She smiled, a little awkwardly, but it was there, "Thanks." It looks like things are reverting back to normal. "Is this why you went off on the motorcycle?" Tony asked her, "To buy hair dye?" "Yes," she said with a little self-satisfied smile, "You got a problem with that?" He started, for a while he just stared, then he smiled back, "Nah, you look better with red," then he winked and walked into his room. "Ever such a ladies man." "Hey, he is engaged," I defended him. "Yeah, was about damn time." I smiled, "Yeah, it was." "You're happy for him huh?" "He's one of my best friends, of course I'm happy for him. How could I not be?" "Yeah, how could you not be." "You're happy for him too." "How are you so sure." "I can see it on your face. You can try to hide it, but in all those years I've known you-." "Which is technically just three years. From 2012 to 2015." "Nat, I've known you from 2012 to 2018 by now..." "No... you left. I choose to believe you didn't know me anymore, not in those two years that you were the Hulk. You forgot about us, about your friends, you can admit it." I sighed, "I almost did." "Almost?" "You think the lullaby would have brought me back if I had completely forgotten you?" She seemed to search my face for a while, for what I don't know, then she shook her head, "No, it wouldn't." "No it wouldn't."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been so long since I wrote this... at least half a year... so... yeah... uh... If there are any continuity errors... just wait, they'look be fixed. Okay, bye now ~Moonwolf


	4. Holy giant ant

Tony

"Rise and shine Bruce, time to work!" "What? Tony, it's six a.m." "So, it's morning, we need to work on those ant helmets." "We already made 45 of them yesterday, and 30 enlargement devices." "Yes, but 30 giant ants ain't gonna stop Thanos's army. The more enlargement devices the better." "You wanna build an ant army?" "Maybe, could come in handy." "Yeah, sure, I don't think Shuri's awake yet though." "You think so?" Shuri's voice sounded from behind me. "Oh my..." "What?" "You're both awake?" "Yes." He sighed, "Fine, I'll get up and we'll get to work, but I want breakfast first." "Sure, we can arrange that," Shuri said as she walked off. "I expect to see you two at my lab in 45 minutes." "We'll be there," I replied before she left the common room. "You better be." 

Thor

Bruce and Tony left the Avengers quarters early in the morning. I know this, because, however silent they might have tried to be, they woke me up. I'm a light sleeper. I heard them discuss something about science, at least that's what I think it was about. I heard them talk about wires and shrinking and growing and all that. I didn't understand much of it, so I decided to just stay in my room and work out a little. It was all I could think of to put my mind off of what happened to Heimdall... To Loki.

Steve came to fetch me for breakfast about an hour later. "Hey, Thor, we uh... we got pop-tarts, you want some pop-tarts?" I stood up, "Yes, thank you Steve." "We know how much you love pop-tarts, so, no problem." I followed him into the Avengers common room, Rhodey, James Rhodes, a friend of Tony, was already there, together with Clint. "Good morning sirs," I told them. "Morning Thor," Clint mumbled back sleepily. He had a big mug of black coffee in his hand and was eating something Midgardians call a bagel. "Good morning Mr. Thor," Rhodey greeted me. " 'T was about time you got up," a voice sounded from the window. It was my new friend, the rabbit, most people called him Rocket, he seemed to like that name and I think he chose it for himself. "Good morning to you too my friend," I said to him. "Yeah, good morning. So, what's up with the food from this planet?" "I already told you that you can trust it, did I not?" "Well... maybe." "Here," I said as I handed him a pop-tart, "try this." He took it and sniffed at it, "Doesn't smell too bad." "I myself find them quite delicious." He looked up at me, "Well, if a God likes it, who am I not to at least try it?" He nibbled on the pop tart and his ears perked up, "Hey, this tastes like berries!" "Ah yes, that must be a forest fruit pop-tart." "I like it." "You heard it here first people, the forest animal likes forest fruit," Natasha's voice sounded from out of the doorway to her room. "What did you just call me?" Rocket asked her. "A forest animal, I mean, your kind usually live in forests, sometimes in cities, but those eat out of... well, trashcans." "Uh... oh, well, I prefer the forest fruit, never really liked the taste of trash." I wasn't sure if he was joking or not. 

Breakfast was peaceful, we talked about what had happened to us all, we joked and it was almost as if nothing had happened, as if, all those years, we'd been together, almost. "Hey, Thor, do you have any clue as to where Bruce and Tony are?" Steve asked me at one point. I nodded, "They're helping Shuri with something, all I heard was something about shrinking and growing and controlling ants." Scott, another friend, but this time one of Steve's nodded, "Yeah, I asked them about that, they're working on some stuff to give me more ants to control." I remembered that he had this alias called Ant-Man, "And you're planning on making them... big?" He shrugged, "Ants are nearly indestructible, I'd like to see those alien fuckers fight an army of nearly indestructible creatures." "Have you considered that some of those "alien fuckers" can fly?" "Flying ants." "So," Nebula put in, "if I'm hearing this right, you want to make an army of giant, nearly indestructible insects to fight Thanos's army?" "Yes. Do you disagree?" "No, I know his armies, they won't know what happened to them," she smiled as she said it. A little smile, slightly creepy and full of lust for revenge. "Those ants might work, they will form a good distraction in any case." "So, you all agree on the giant ants?" "Yeah, let's fu... let's mess 'em up." "Jesus Thor, just because Steve's around doesn't mean you can't say, "Let's fuck 'em up"," Natasha mumbled. I replied by winking and saying, "We all know Steve doesn't like that kind of talk, don't we?" Steve groaned in annoyance. Natasha smiled, something which was quite rare.

Steve

After breakfast we all split up. And then most of us met again in the training rooms of the palace. "Well, seems like we're really good at that "Let's all go our own way for now, see you later" thing," I said jokingly. "Don't try to be funny," Natasha replied. Clint chuckled, "It was bad Rogers." "Thanks guys," I rolled my eyes, sighed and went to work. "so, now that all of you are here, let's just call it a training." "Let me guess, you're the instructor?" Nat asked. "Well, since I'm the only one who's been in the army who's still able to walk, no offense James." "None taken." "I'm the only one who's able to really drill you and show you all the exercises." "I should have stayed in bed," Clint whispered. "And I think I'm going to play drill-sergeant today." "Oh hell," Scott mumbled. "NOW GIVE ME FIFTY PUCH-UPS!" I barked. They obliged immediately. 

We trained for about two hours, till we were all tired and sweating from places we didn't know we could sweat from. All of us except Thor of course, who looked like he just took a run through the park instead of a freakin' drill-course. "YOU ARE ALL DISMISSED!" "Please stop the screaming," Natasha said, "My head's already pounding because you made us run forty laps." "I need you guys in top-condition for our battle against Thanos's army." "Tiring them won't help you," Nebula suddenly said. "Why are you not tired?" Natasha asked. "I am tired, just not as tired as you guys, the real question would be, why don't I look tired? To which the answer is simple, I'm mostly made out of metal." "Oh... yeah." "So,, you're telling me that getting them to be in top condition won't work?" I asked. "That's not what I'm saying, but tiring them won't. And you just did. Train them till they tell you they need to stop, don't push them over. They started complaining an hour into your training. Also, all this running and push-ups and stuff makes them stronger and faster and all that. But you would do well to remember that weapons training is important too." I nodded, "I know that." "Then you should focus on that a little more, since they all seem to be in perfect condition." "Yeah Steve, not all of us are super soldiers like you, or Gods like Thor," Clint reminded me. "I know, I know, I'm just." "Freaked out by what happened? Yeah, we all are," Nat brought up. "Next time, just let us train till we feel like we can't go on, and give us some breaks, otherwise I'm going to consider breaking your nose." "Thanks Nat, always nice to get a threat with a request." "You're welcome." 

I might have been a little harsh on them, so, being the good friend that I am, I brought them ice-creams, which I found in the freezer of our common room. "You guys deserved this." "Thanks," they all mumbled. "Oh, hey, is that free ice-cream?" I heard Tony's voice ask behind me. "No, not for you because you didn't just live through Captain Drill's training." Clint told him. Tony, of course, served himself an ice-cream nevertheless. Nobody stopped him from doing so either. "so, you guys wanna see what Bruce, Shuri and I have been working on?" "Depends," I said. "Depends on what?" "will it work?" "Steve, look at me. Who am I?" "Tony Stark." "Indeed I am. Of course it'll work." "Tony, pick up your ego before someone struggles over it," Nat mumbled. "Sorry Nat, but I can't lift mountains," he said with a wink, "But I bet I could make a suit that might be able to do the job." Natasha sighed, "I'm surrounded by idiots." Rocket, who had only been watching the training, sniggered as if the comment reminded him of some sort of personal joke. "Well, then," I said, ignoring both Natasha's comments, Tony's reply and Rocket's sniggering, "let's go to the lab then." "Hold up," Tony said as he regarded us, "Y'all might wanna take a shower first." 

Clint

I don't say this a lot, but Tony was right, we all wanted to take a shower first. Good thing we all had a bathroom connected to our sleeping quarters. And we were in Wakanda, so we didn't have to worry about running out of water, thanks the advanced technology. After showering we assembled in the Avengers common room. After fifteen minutes it was just all of us waiting for Natasha. "Women," I mumbled. "What's that?" Nebula said. She send me a dark look that made me shiver a little. "Nothing," I replied. "I thought so." Another ten minutes and Nat was finally done. "Sorry guys, needed to wash my hair." "That is what took you so long?" I asked. She glared at me, "Well excuse me for having more hair then you men do!" "It's not that long..." "Longer than yours." "How long are you going to stay angry with me?" "Till I don't feel angry anymore." "That's vague." "Thanks, I like being vague." "Guys, please," Steve got in between, "Let's just go to the lab to see what Tony wants to show us, shall we?" I nodded, "Yeah, let's do that." "I bet Thor's eyeball it's a giant ant," Scott said. "Don't bet my eyeball please, I need it." Scott shrugged, "I bet Shuri can make you a new one that works, just like the one you have now." "Yes, but this one was given to me by the rabbit." "Wow, you guys are like, best friends now?" "We are friends and the fact that he gave it to me means something to me. He likes prosthetics, so the fact that he gave it to me is... well it means a lot." "I do like prosthetics," Rocket mumbled. Why does Thor keep calling him a rabbit? He's a damned raccoon. I sighed, Oh well, never mind. 

In the lab, Tony, Bruce and Shuri were waiting for us with an ant-farm. One of those things you see on TV and of which you doubt they actually exist until you see one for real. "An ant-farm, that's an ant-farm," I said. "Yeah, it is, and it's full of ants," Tony replied. "Scott, you got the device with which you control them?" Shuri asked. Scott nodded, "I do." "Ant-farm is not really my kind of farm," I mumbled, to which Bruce replied by making sheep noises. Funny Banner, very funny, I just forgot to laugh. Thor, however, chuckled. Tony opened up the ant farm to let some of them out, one of them climbed up on his hand, "Shuri, the honor is yours." Shuri smiled, picked up a huge magnifying glass, took a pair of tweezers out of her pocket, picked something really small off of a table and walked back over to Tony, who was doing his best to keep the ant on his hand. "Here we go," she said as she held the magnifying glass over Tony's hand and brought the tweezers down. I could see the little helmet it held now. How did they even make something that small? God, my eyes would hurt just from watching them work on it. She placed the helmet on the ant. "Scott, try him." "Sure." Then Shuri started laughing. "What's so funny?" I asked. "Scott's making the ant dance that stupid Gangnam Style dance," Natasha replied. "Scott, are you kidding?" Tony asked. "Nope." "Scott, back to serious please..." Scott sighed, "Fine, but I'll need the other ants if you want me to actually get something done. 

Twenty minutes later, forty ants were shoving sugar cubes over the floor and we were betting on the team that would get over the finish line first. The ants were pretty big. So there was a sugar cube for every five ants. All of them had a colored dot, red, yellow, green, blue, orange, purple, pink and black. I, of course, bet on the purple team. So I lost twenty dollars to Nat and Nebula as the blue team won. Which means I lost twenty dollars to both of them, but Nebula didn't know what to do with the money she won, so she just gave it all to Natasha, which gave Natasha a total of 200 dollar winnings. She used the cash to fan herself, "This feels good," she mumbled as she did so. Thor, who had been smart enough not to bet any money, but who put in a little knife, laughed as he saw our faces, and with our faces I mean Tony, Steve, Scott, Shuri and me. Yeah, Shuri bet twenty dollars too and had to pay them to both Nat and Nebula, she looked a little disappointed, but probably just because she bet on the red team and it became second, she had enough money anyway. Bruce was smart enough not to put in any money either, he put in an old mp-3 player, with headset and 500 songs on it. Nebula didn't want the knife, which was a surprise to all of us, but she did want the mp-3, which was an even bigger surprise. Then again, she did take the gun that Rocket put in as he bet on the orange team, so she didn't really need the knife.

Shuri

"Well, that was disappointing," I said, "But of course, ant-racing is not what we're here for. "It does show that Scott can control the ants though," Steve brought in. I sighed, "Yeah, but we already knew that. Now, what we really wanted to show you, is this." I walked over to another ant-farm, this one holding slightly larger ants. All of them already wearing helmets. I took one of the ants out and used one of the enlargement devices on it as I threw it in the air, let's be real, I didn't want to still hold that ant as it became a giant ant, the result was an ant the size of a pony. "Holy mother of ants," Scott mumbled, "What kind of ant is that?" "Native species," I told him. "They're quite common, and venomous. Now let's see if you can control him." The next thing I know I was riding an ant. "SCOTT!" "Yes?" "Get it to put me down!" "Can it fly?" "Don't you dare." He dared, and so I had a short flight on ant-back. I have to admit, it was pretty cool, but I did not sign up for that! "Alright, put her down Ant-ione!" "Antoine?" "No, Ant-ione." "Wha- Why?" "Because... I just like to give ants names that start with ant and then emphasize the "ant" part, okay?" "You're weird." "Says the young woman/Queen who just created something that made an ant the size of a pony! How long will the effect last?" "About two days. So you and Ant-ione got a lot of bonding to do." "Good." "Wait, you like that?" "Yeah, I have come to like bonding with ants... you know, over the years. They're not so bad. They're actually very interesting." "Well, if you say so." "You'll continue to make helmets and all that?" I nodded, "Of course I will." "Thank you, your Majesty." I sighed, "Can you all please just call me Shuri, I'm getting real tired of the, "my Queen" and "your Majesty" stuff." "Sure," Scott replied with a smile, "Thank you Shuri." 

After the giant-ant demonstration, most of the Avengers left. With most I mean all except Natasha, who just wanted to hang around the lab for some reason. She talked with Tony for a while, then she just sat down and watched us work. "you know, if you're bored, you can try this out," I said to her over my shoulder. "What's that?" "I made you some new Black Widow batons out of vibranium. Stronger than the ones you have now." "You did?" "Yeah." "Why?" "Because you need it against those aliens, I worked on your suit too, I hope you won't mind that it's bulletproof now." "Now why would I mind that? Thanks Shuri." "You're welcome. And you needed it, seeing you were running around on the battlefield like an idiot with zero protection." "I'm fast." "Steve's fast too, Steve could still be hit by a bullet, but Steve has vibranium. Oh, I also upgraded your widow's bites." "You had a lot of free time, didn't you?" I shrugged, "Yeah, kinda, it also helps me take my mind off things." Natasha sighed, "I get that." "Yeah, I thought you would." She put a hand on my shoulder, "But you need to rest Shuri. You're young, you're a Queen now." "I know, I know, but I didn't ask for this! I don't want to be a Queen! Not like this anyway! Half of my people is gone! Half of everything is gone! Even the wildlife. The rhino's some of the tribes used to ride into battle! Half of all of that is gone! MY BROTHER IS GONE!" Why am I crying dammit?! Then Natasha did something unexpected, she pulled me into a hug. "I know," she whispered, "I know." 

Rocket

So, yeah, that giant ant stuff was pretty crazy and I lost a gun to Nebula, but, for the rest of it, it was a pretty good day. For lunch we had more pop-tarts, and I'm telling you, those forest fruit pop-tarts are great. We also had some roast meat, which I really like as well. I have to give it to those Terrans, they know how to cook, and how to make pop-tarts. Nebula was looking at me as if I was crazy, but eventually tried a blackberry pop-tart herself. Tony tried to offer her a blueberry pop-tart by saying "Blueberry?" which somehow caused a fit of laughter to rise amongst the Avengers. "What's so funny?" Tony smiled, "Just something that happened a few years ago. To be fair, I didn't think those idiots would remember about it." "Thanks for calling us idiot, idiot," Clint replied. "You're welcome Barton." "You guys are weird," I mumbled as I took another pop-tart. "They remind me of you and the Guardians," Nebula brought up speaking softly. "Do they now?" "Yes, they have this family like chemistry. They tease each other but clearly care for each other." "I remember you telling us we're not friends because all we do is yell at each other." "You weren't there." "Gamora told me. So did Drax and Mantis." "Of course they did." "You know... if you want to... I think Gamora would be glad to have you tag along with us for a while, when they're back and all. And maybe the others won't mind too much once they get to know you." "You think?" "Hey, we can handle Gamora." "So?" "I think we're able to handle you to, once you're warmed up to us." "If I ever will..." 

After lunch Tony asked me to help him, Bruce and Shuri on the ant stuff. "A, finally a chance to do something!" "Well, you could have just offered your help yourself." "Don't think you guys would have accepted it." "Why that?" "Cause I'm an animal, and an a-hole." "And now we ask for your help." "Yeah, I like that." "You like to be asked for help huh?" "Feels good to be needed." "Yeah, I know that feeling." "Ya do?" "Duh. Why do you think I became what people call, Iron-Man." "Oh, so you're one of those." "One of what?" "One of those: The world needs a hero, so that's what I become, kind of people. The kind of "hero" who helps because it's the right thing to do." "Well, not really, I created the suit to save people from terrorists, but I never wanted to be a hero." "Sure." "And I screwed up a lot... and bad. Like, agreeing that people like the Avengers should be retained by the government and talking some of my friends into signing accords that gives the government the power to do just that, bad." "Ai." "Yeah." "That doesn't really sound like fun." "nope, and it tore our team apart..." "But you're all here now." "Yeah, but I got the feeling they're still angry at me." "I screw up too. Like, stealing batteries, that are very important to a kind of dangerous race of humanoids, that we just protected from being eaten by an intergalactic monster so those people come after us with a whole fleet of ships to kill us bad." "What did you steal those batteries for?" "To sell them for money... Yeah, stupid move, I know that... Made us fly into an asteroid field where our team leader, Peter Quill, and I fought over the control of the ship and we were eventually saved by this guy called Ego, who turned out to be Peter's dad, but we did crash-land on Berhart... So, I stayed there to repair the ship and all that, got caught by Ravagers... Peter went off with his dad, got into a lot of trouble when his father turned out to be some weird motherfucking homicidal maniac that wanted to take over the galaxy. So I got there in time with Peter's adoptive dad Yondu to save him and all... But I can't help but think, what would have happened if I hadn't stolen those batteries..." "Most likely, the guy still would have found you, you wouldn't have been split up, so you wouldn't have had that Yondu guy to help you save your friends." "Yeah, maybe..." I sighed, "I just wish Yondu had survived it all..."

Pepper

I sat in the window doing, well, nothing. I had taken several walks already, but I got bored eventually. Don't get me wrong, Wakanda is great. It's beautiful, full of nature and modern at the same time. I just wished I could do something, anything, to help. I sighed, "The things I do for you Tony..." 'Yeah, you're crazy." I turned around so fast I almost fell, but a hand steadied me. "I'm sorry, did I startle you?" Natasha asked as she looked down at me. "When did you come in?" "Half a minute ago." "How did I not noti- Oh, right, you're a spy." She smiled, "Can you move over a little, maybe we can feel like we're doing nothing and stare out of the window sadly together." "Why do you feel like you're doing nothing?" "Well, I'm training of course, but that's just in my daily routine already. We don't have a plan, or no real plan... I'm not helping prepare anything..." She sighed. "Well, you're still doing more than me. So you got that. Tony would never let me fight..." "No, he wouldn't." Suddenly an idea popped up in my mind. "Hey, you don't mind doing something Tony wouldn't want you to do right? Something he might even get angry about if you did?" "You want me to train you?" "Uh... well, yes." "Hmm, well, on one hand, I don't want an angry Iron-Man chasing after me... but at the other hand, screw Tony." "So you're going to train me?" "I'll see how far I can get. You ever did yoga?" "What? Why is that relevant?" "Well, it's good for your flexibility and it would be a great cover. Maybe, if you ever did it before, Tony would believe it if we said we'd be doing yoga together." "Good thing that I do so happen to have attended yoga classes before. You really are smart." "Thanks, but coming up with cover stories is kind of a spy thing, hasn't really got anything to do with intelligence." "I'm sure it does." 

"Hey ladies, you two catching up on each other's lives?" Tony asked as he walked into the Avenger's common room at six p.m. "Yeah, really working on that," Nat replied sarcastically. "Actually," I said, "we were putting together a schedule for yoga classes." "Yoga classes?" "Well, I'm constantly here worrying, doing nothing and yoga helps calm the mind and it keeps me busy." "And I just happen to be a verified yoga-teacher." "Is there anything you're not?" "There are a lot of things I'm not, Stark, like a man." "But you are a verified yoga-teacher." "Hey, I may be a spy, but it's dangerous and income is... unsure. So I need some side jobs to be sure of my income." "What else do you do?" "Self-defense classes, hacking." "Hacking?" "How do you think I got your precious Rhodey back, you know, back in, what was it? 2010?" "You hacked into the suit." "That I did." "I'm gonna keep an eye on you" Natasha smiled as he walked into the bedroom he shared with me. "Oh great, now he's gonna keep an eye on you." "whenever I'm on a computer or a phone or anything else that I could use to hack with yes." Her voice dropped to a whisper, "I'm telling you, he doesn't suspect a thing." I sighed, "Well, if you say so. Are you really a verified yoga-instructor?" "Yeah. Why?" "Just curious." 

The next morning I was woken up by Natasha. "Pepper, hey, Pepper," she whispered. "What?" It's seven a.m., let's get ready for training. Steve's not up yet so we might be able to avoid Captain Drill." "What?" "He was pretty hard on us yesterday." "Oh." "Come on, get yourself ready, I'll work on breakfast." I sat up and saw that she was already dressed and looked a little bit messy, "did you already take a run or something?" "Yeah, I'm used to getting up early." "Wow." "Old habits die hard." "Yeah, I know." "Good, now get dressed, we got work to do." 

I think this training was something Natasha and I were both happy with. It made the two of us feel like we were actually preparing for what was about to come. We trained in a separate training room, where Steve couldn't find Natasha and where Tony couldn't find me. However, we were found by Okoye, the head of the Dore Milaje. "What are you two doing here?" She asked us when she found us there the first time. "I'm secretly training Pepper," Natasha replied, "I found this room a while ago, I hope it's okay if we use it." "You're training her in secret?" "Tony would never let me train... He wouldn't let me fight but if you want to beat that oversized grape's ass then you need every fighter you can get, right?" Okoye nodded, a smile playing around her lips, "We do indeed." Natasha chuckled, "That oversized grape's ass. I'm starting to remember why I liked you Pepper." "Well, thank you." "Would it be okay if I joined you?" Okoye asked. "Why?" "So we can learn from each other. I have a feeling that it might make the both of us better fighters, we could both teach her," she said with a nod in my direction. This is getting interesting. "Huh, I like the sound of that." "Is it a deal then?" "Yeah. That's a deal." "How about one of us takes the lead every other day?" "Sounds fair." "You start today." "Good, I had something planned." "And that is?" I asked. "Remember the first time you met me?" "Uh, yeah, why?" "Tony tried to get me into that boxing ring with Happy, who I got down on his back easily." "you wanted to start with boxing?" "How uncivilized." "Says a woman who fights with a spear." Okoye grinned, "a spear that's made with advanced Wakandan technology." "Touché. Anyway, boxing is not as uncivilized as it seems." "In that case, show us." And suddenly I had two trainers. 

Natasha

I have to say, I didn't mind working together with Okoye. She was right, we could learn from each other and we could both teach Pepper how to fight. We did make her swear not to tell Tony, to which she obliged pretty easily. "Well, that didn't go at all as I expected it would go," Pepper said at the end of the training. "Now, what do we tell Tony?" "Nothing, we can shower here so we won't raise too much suspicion. Then we just tell him we did yoga this morning. And that we'll be doing it every morning from now on." "Is that what you're telling everyone? That you're doing yoga?" "Yeah, I'm a verified yoga-instructor, they can even Google it, it's in my leaked S.H.I.E.L.D. file." "You mean that file you put online yourself?" "Just because I had to Potts." "Interesting, what else can you do?" Okoye asked. "Ballet." "Dancing?" "Gives you pretty strong legs, and toes," I said with a smirk. "No really, it gives you more flexibility, I got it along with my training at the red-room, that's one thing ?I'm certain of, and I'm not really certain of the things that happened in the red-room thanks to all the brainwashing and fake memories." "That sounds horrible." I shrugged, "I've learned to live with it. Anyway, that was a different me, all that, all the things I did for the KGB, that was Natalia. I'm Natasha now, a different name, a different person." "You think it works like that?" "It always worked like that for me." Pepper had left the room without me realizing it, I heard the shower turning on. "I have to say, that is concerning." "My whole past is concerning. But I have the Avengers now... I won't have to change my identity again, not for them." She nodded, "I can see that, you are all very close." "We are. A bunch of misfits, maybe that's why we're so close." "It makes sense, but know one thing, you might all be misfits, but you are all welcome in Wakanda." I smiled, "Thanks, we appreciate that."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See here, another chapter. Hope you guys liked it... I might add the titles of the chapters later... one warning though, some of them are really weird.


	5. Serious business and a bouncy bed

Clint

Natasha had been skipping training for a few days now and I started to wonder if she was doing it to avoid me. I really hoped that wasn't the case. She told Steve she was doing yoga with Pepper, but we both knew her well enough to know that that wasn't really the case, so one morning I decided to follow her to see what she was really up to. And not just because I was curious, I also wanted to know if she was okay. And maybe she wanted to talk to me, although I doubted that. So I followed her and I found out that she was indeed hanging out with Pepper, but not for yoga. "You little liar," I whispered to myself. And I hid as she quickly whipped her head around. Dammit Clint, you may be almost deaf but she for sure isn't, be quieter! Okoye entered the room not much later. "Good morning," they all greeted each other. "What's today's planning?" I heard Natasha ask Okoye. "Well, you keep saying that spears are medieval, so I was planning to change your opinion on that." "Oh, bold choice." Okoye chuckled, "Is it now?" "Well, I'm good with sticks." "You mean your Black Widow batons?" "Yes." "Well, spears are different." "I thought so." "Let's start with the basics then, both of you grab a stick." "told you we were working with stick," I heard Natasha say, probably to Pepper this time. "They will learn you to control the spear." "Yeah, I get that." "you just have to go for the black and red one huh?" Pepper commented, probably on the stick Nat chose. "They're my colors!" "Yeah, right, like purple is Clint's color and red and gold is Tony's thing." "And everything that's star-spangled goes to Steve." "Are you ready?" "Yeah, sure, but, wait up." Nat's voice dropped to a whisper... or so I think. "Oh really?" "Uhu." "How sure are you?" "100%." Then suddenly a spear flew right towards where I was sitting and it would have impaled my if I hadn't moved. "Goddammit! Was that necessary?" I asked. "Kinda, yes," Natasha answered. "What the hell are you doing here Barton?" "Well... you know... spying..." "Spying on a spy huh? Well you did a wonderful job, at messing up that is." "Thanks." "You're welcome." 

Natasha sighed. I had asked her to follow me into the changing room so we could talk and to my and probably even to her own surprise, she agreed and followed me. "What do you want to talk about?" "I think you know that," I replied. "Well, maybe I don't." "Maybe you don't want to you mean." "Yeah, right, like I don't want to be remembered of what you said to me. Can't see why I wouldn't want to be remembered of that." "Nat." "Don't "Nat" me." "Natasha, please." "Is it really that weird that I don't want to remembered of how you hurt me?" "No, it's not." "Indeed. It's not." "But I'm sorry!" "You better be." "Well excuse me?" "Oh you have no right to get angry now! Just listen to me for a while, okay?" I shrugged, "Fine." "You and Laura accepted me as a part of your family, you made me the honorary aunt of your kids. You know how much they mean to me, how much you and Laura mean to me. You guys are the only family I've ever had and you dare to tell me that you're, that they're not my family? I know, we're not blood related, but blood doesn't make a family Clint. It's the feeling of safety, the feeling of friendship and wanting to protect someone that makes you family. Family is more than just flesh and blood! I mean, look at us, look at the Avengers, we're a family too..." "I know... I know that blood doesn't make a family and I regretted what I said the instant that I said it! I... I wasn't thinking straight, I wasn't thinking at all." "That's clear." "Well... I was thinking... but mostly about myself," I admitted. "I was wondering how I could move on without my family... not realizing that there was still one part of my family out there. One who had just fought, who had seen her friends die and disappear... who was tired and beaten and needed me..." I sighed. "Go ahead, call me an idiot." "You're an idiot." "You know, this should actually be the part where you tell me that you understand me, say that I'm not an idiot and forgive me." "I'll just go with the first and the last, I understand you, I forgive you, but you're still an idiot." "You forgive me?" "I've been angry with you for about a week now, I'm getting bored of it." I smiled, "I knew you'd come around." "Of course you did. You're my moron of a best friend." "That's my sweet homicidal spy-friend." "You really are an idiot." "Love you too Nat." She sighed, "Idiot first class..."

Natasha

To be honest, it was about time Clint apologized. It had been a week. Okay, maybe he tried to apologize before, but I just didn't want to listen to him. I wanted him to feel a little pain because I stopped talking to him. I know, it's petty, but pettiness feels good sometimes, especially when you hurt someone who hurt you, maybe that's why I don't have that many friends. I'll be honest, I'm a little hard to swallow from time to time, but most of the time people don't even try to understand me. I behave a little differently from how they behave and they label me as a bitch, as stupid, annoying or weird. I get sick of it. I'm just a human, a lot had happened to me in the past. You can say that we have to leave the past in the past, that your past doesn't matter, and I try to live that way, believe me, which is why I also know that it's not true. Your past is the base of who you are. It's the base of your personality. Let me give you an example, if you're raised in a happy family, with friendly parents you're most likely an outgoing, friendly and helpful person. If something happened, like, one of your parents died, you miss a vital part of your upbringing because one parent can't fill the role of the other parent. You might be afraid to lose people again, which is why you might be afraid to form close bonds to others. So you won't be a very social person. If you've been hurt a lot in the past you're also afraid to get close to people, the same goes for if people have let you down a lot. Your past forms you, you see, so you can't let that go... I can't let that go, no matter how hard I try. 

Now I know you're thinking that I'm not one to talk about that, because I have all those fake memories. But... I'm starting to... well, sort them out. You see, fake memories are slightly different from real memories. It's like they're... well, like they're photo shopped. I've had this for years now, since I left the KGB. And I'm pretty sure that, by now, I know what it is they did to me... I am however not very sure of who trained me. The voice is familiar, but... I never seem to be able to see his face. So I lay awake at night, pondering over my memories. And if I sleep the voice shows up in my nightmares, or he shows up as a dark figure, but mostly just the voice. 

Even in Wakanda I had nightmares regularly. It's not really something I like to talk about of course. I didn't tell anyone, not like I really needed to. Clint and Steve knew about it, but they always avoided talking about the subject. They knew I could handle it, if a person can possibly handle nightmares almost every night. Besides, they were too busy with their own. The night after my talk with Clint they were bad though, very bad. Bad enough for me to scream... And that doesn't happen a lot. I was in a room, I thought I was alone at first, but then I heard a voice, "I'm sorry I couldn't get you out Natalia, I'm sorry I wasn't fast enough and I'm sorry for what's about to happen!" It was the voice of my trainer. I heard the sound of something hard against something... well, fleshy, as if someone was hit. I heard how somebody fought against... his restrainers. "You can't make me do this! You can't make me punish her, she didn't do anything! It was me! It was all my idea!" Then I heard screaming, loud screaming. Then another voice spoke, "Longing." "No!" "Rusted." "No, please!" "Furnace." "Stop, please stop!" "Daybreak." "Please don't do this to me again." My trainer sounded desperate. And... something about those words seemed... off... "Seventeen." "Please," he whispered in an almost soundless plea." "Benign." "Don't turn me into that mindless monster again... Please." He got slapped again. "Nine." I think I heard him cry. "Homecoming. One. Freight Car." The other voice was silent for a while, the crying had stopped. Everything was silent. The words... they seemed to have this weird familiarity. As if I heard them before. Or... well... not before, not in my dream, but after that memory, somewhere later on in my life. The silence was starting to make me nervous when, "Soldier?" The second voice spoke. "Ready to comply." "You know how to deal with trainees who try to escape?" "Yes." "You see that girl?" "Is she one of them, trainees who tried to escape?" "Yes. And it's your task to punish her." I tried to look up, tried to get a glimpse of the face of my trainer, but it was hidden, just as it always had been. I did notice a few other things though. Like how I was wired up to this machine that I knew all too well form some of my other memories. Real memories of pain and torture, and I knew what was about to happen. My trainer walked over to the machine, he turned a switch. Pain. All I felt was pain. Electricity. Shocks like fire spreading through my veins. I tried not to scream, but they made me. They wouldn't stop until I screamed. And believe me, it takes a lot of pain for me to scream...

"Natasha," I heard a voice, distant, far away. "Natasha!" The voice sounded concerned. "Natasha, wake up, it's just a dream!" Wait a minute, that's not from here. I only knew that because the voice called me Natasha, not Natalia. "Natasha, please, it's okay, it's just a dream. Wake up!" And I woke up, but before I woke up I caught one last glimpse of my trainer, his left side was turned to me, he had dark hair and... I saw a glint of metal and a red star. Then I woke up. "Natasha, are you okay?" Steve's face was hovering over me, just a few inches from my own. I sighed, "Yeah, I'm okay." I wasn't, I could still feel the electricity burning me up. It's not real, I told myself, you're not actually feeling that. "Nat?" "Yeah." "How are you really?" "Well, I just got tortured in my dreams, apart from that, I'm fine." He leaned back and I could see that everyone had filed into my room. "Oh, hey guys." Clint looked concerned, Tony looked almost scared, Bruce looked as if he pitied me, Nebula looked curious. Rocket jumped on the bed, "Did you just say that you got tortured in your dreams?" "Well, yeah." "Who dreams about that?" "People who've been tortured." He nodded, "Oh... yeah." "Can you all go now? This is really uncomfortable." They all mumbled something like, "Yeah, sure. Of course," and walked towards the door. "Steve!" He turned, "Yeah." "I think I need to tell you something." 

Steve

I sat down on the edge of the bed just as Natasha sat up herself, "What do you need to tell me?" She looked down, nit her lip and then looked me straight in the eye, "Remember when I told you about how I "met" the Winter Soldier the first time?" "Of course I do." "And how I chased him after?" "Yes." "Well, I had another reason for hat. It was not as if I wanted revenge for him shooting me." "I didn't expect that." It was true, I didn't expect that at all, because I can't think of anything that's more unlike Natasha than going after someone just because she wants revenge for that person shooting her. "But I did have a reason." "I suppose you're about to tell me?" She nodded, "I suppose so too." "You're not sure?" "I am, about ninety percent." She sighed, "I went after him because I had the feeling I knew him... And because I had the feeling he knew me." "What?" "When he shot, he hit me... he seemed... pained is if he didn't want to hurt me, as if he hoped he'd miss." "That's impossible. He didn't know you, did he?" They can't know each other! Well... my nightmare cleared it all up." "Your nightmare," I sounded skeptical. "Yeah." "How?" She wrapped her arms around her knees and rested her head on them, almost buried her face between her knees. "It was... about my past." "With the KGB you mean?" I asked in a whisper. "Yes." "What... what happened?" She swallowed audibly, "My trainer... he tried to escape with me," I was surprised by the amount of emotion in her voice. From the looks of it, she was too. "He tried to escape with you?" "Yes, but they caught us... and they..." she looked up, "they punished us. They made him punish me." "What, how?" "They brainwashed him." 

Why does all of this sound like it's turning into a story that I don't want to hear? "They brainwashed him?" "Well, sort of. He had... triggers. I heard the words, at first I didn't know what was wrong with them, why they were different from the rest of my dream, but now I do. They were Russian. I didn't understand what was wrong because I could understand them. And I know why they're familiar too..." "They were familiar to you?" "Yes, I heard them before, about two years ago on a security tape." "What?" "Steve?" "Yes..." Why do I feel like I don't want to hear this? "They were Bucky's trigger words." "What?" "It was... it was Bucky who trained me..." "Are you sure? Wasn't it just someone else with the same trigger?" "Who happened to have a metal arm with a red star on it too, and dark hair cut a few inches above his shoulders back then. I don't think so Steve." "But... No, it can't be!" "It was! It explains everything! Why I had the feeling that I knew him! Why the trigger words sounded familiar! Why the voice that I heard in my nightmares, the voice of my trainer, sounded familiar after we met him! Why he seemed to know me and why it seemed like he didn't want to hurt me!" "How does it explain that?" "Because he trained me and he tried to get me out of there! Because he cared about me!" She said it as if she knew it to be true. "He cared about you?" "Why else would he have tried to get me out of there?" "Good question." "It also explains why I felt a little uneasy around him all the time. Because we worked together once, because he cared for me and turned on me." "They made him turn on you," I reminded her. "Yeah, I know. But I was a kid Steve. Children see everything... differently. Even if they're forced to think and behave like adults. Maybe even more so." I nodded, "Yeah, I know that." "And some things that you think as a kid, that you feel as a kid, they stay." I sighed, she was right. She was uneasy around Bucky because of what had happened, and she had every right to be. "You sound defeated." "I feel defeated." "Because Bucky scared the hell out of me when I was a kid and because I'm still a little afraid of him because of that?" "You are?" She shrugged, "I am, the least I can do is admit it." "He tried to help you though." "They tried to erase those memories... But it's all coming back. Maybe if I sort it all out that the fear will go away, but, I don't know...." 

"He's a good person Nat," I assured her. "I know that, believe me, I do, I listened to the stories you told about him. Your best friend who had to keep his Chihuahua out of trouble." "He had to keep me out of trouble." She smirked at me. "Right, I'm the Chihuahua." "You were little, and aggressive for your size." "I only tried to help people or to stand up for what was right." "Yeah, I know. Still, you were a Chihuahua." "Thanks." "And suddenly you got experimented on and you turned into a Golden Retriever with the same idiotic temperament." "Are you seriously comparing me to a dog?" "I am." "What dog would Bucky be?" "German Shepherd, long haired at this point." "Why?" "Because he's loyal, pretty good at following orders, but he fights when he has too. He's close to his "wild side" I mean, did you see him at the battlefield, all battle-cries, metal arm and fabulous locks." 'Fabulous...-." "Just like a German Shepherd, because they're still closely related to wolves. Closer than most dogs at least." "In that case, you're the wolf," I told her. She looked at me, a curious glint in her green eyes, her head tilted slightly to the left, "Why that?" "Because you're fierce, you're loyal to the people you consider your family, you fight when you need to, but you're not very open, you'd rather avoid too much contact and you're.. well you're pretty misunderstood." "And that applies too wolves?" "Yeah, they're fierce and wild, they're loyal to their packs, they fight when they have to, to defend themselves or to defend others, and they'd rather avoid humans, they don't like coming near them, like you don't like to open yourself up to others. Sometimes it even seems like you'd rather just stay away from humans. And, well, because of all of this, wolves are seen as bad, as a villain figure, but in actuality, they're not, they're just misunderstood. Because we don't know them, because they stay away from us. Just out of reach." "I might see how that applies to me." "Well, I certainly do." 

"Steve?" "Yeah?" "We should try to sleep." I yawned, "You think." She smiled a little, "Yeah, I think so. You know, if you're too tired to walk over to your own room... You're allowed to stay here for the night." That surprised me, "Am I?" "Well...," she slowly rubbed her hands over her legs, "To be honest, I don't really feel like being alone... After that nightmare." "Oh. Well I am very tired." She smiled, "You know Steve, you're the best." "I've heard that before." "No you haven't." "I did." "Bucky just said it because you're his best friends, best friends are bound to say such things." "Then why do you say it to me? Clint's your best friend." "Because Clint's a moron." "Ah, I can really see the love between the two of you." "How about you lay down and just shut up?" "Yes ma'am." I laid myself down and Natasha curled up next to me. I snaked my arms around her waist and pulled her closer. An incoherent ad surprised sound escaped from her throat. "You're close to crossing a line Rogers." "Don't act like you don't enjoy it." "You've really crossed a line now." "Is that why you're not trying to break free." "Do you know how warm this is?" "The air-conditioning is on." "Still." "You need a hug." "No I don't." "Yes you do, hugs make people feel safe." "God, you're a moron too." "Thanks, I appreciate that." "Appreciate what?" I didn't answer. "Steve?" "Yes." "You're not going to answer, are you?" "I'm not." She sighed, "Idiots, all of you." "we love you too Nat." "Ugh, affection." "We're going to give it to you till you stop pretending you don't like it." She sighed, "Good luck with that." "Thanks, we'll need it." 

Pepper

The morning after the whole nightmare fiasco we all decided to just do nothing. Well, not nothing really, but, close to nothing. Natasha, Shuri and I decided to go shopping. The both of them needed it. Natasha needed a distraction from her confusing returning memories and Shuri needed a distraction from what had happened to her brother. Shopping was one way to make sure they were both distracted. Also, Shuri decided to not go shopping in Wakanda itself, "We might be a wealthy country, but the fashion here is terrible," she said. And so we took a jet to California. Mind you, that's probably because Shuri wanted to visit Disneyland. We went shopping first, then we got into a taxi and Shuri "accidentally" gave the driver the address of Disneyland. So we spent the rest of the day, the night and the next day in Disneyland. We had a lot of fun though, so mission: Distract the Queen and the spy, was a success. 

Shuri

"I swear it was an accident," I said as we got out of the parked taxi. "How can you accidentally tell a taxi to go to Disneyland?" Natasha asked. "I thought it was the address of the airport." "Yeah, sure," it was clear she didn't believe me for a second. "The airport really looks like Disneyland." "Oh, come on, it's not that bad, I mean, it's Disney!" "You never had to watch Disney movies with hidden messages in them." "What? That sounds creepy." "Well, it wasn't that creepy, I mean, they were still Disney movies. And I've watched a lot of Disney movies with Clint's kids. I've also had a lot of children ask me if I'm Ariel though, that's not so much fun." "Could have been worse." "Hey Pepper," she said as she turned to the blonde, "What do you think? Should we stay here or should we go back?" Pepper regarded the park for a while, then glanced at me. She smiled, "You know, I think a theme park is not that bad an idea." "In that case, text Tony, we're staying here for the night." "Really?" I asked. "Wakanda can do a few hours without it's Queen. Your mother's there, she can handle it, can't she?" I nodded, "Yeah, she can." "Well, let's go then." "You think we can get in, just like that?" Pepper asked. "Yeah," Natasha answered. "How?" "Well, Shuri is the Queen of Wakanda, she's a royal. And you, you're the fiancée of Tony Stark and the CEO of Stark industries, you guys can get in quite easily, if you pay of course, but you might have to pay less and get treated a little better than the other guests. As for me, well, I'm with you," she said with a grin. Pepper looked defeated, "You know, the answer, Shuri is the Queen of Wakanda, which makes her a royal, would have been enough." I shrugged, "Sometimes it's good to be royal." 

Like Natasha said, we got in quite easily. Neither, the park and the hotel are full, nor, that's the Black widow, a wanted fugitive, nonsense. Just because I'm a Queen. Mind you, just being the Princess of Wakanda would have worked too, but maybe a little, just a little, less effective. We got the keys to our rooms, where we dropped our stuff. And where I lay down on the soft bed for a while. I might have jumped on it too because it's bouncy, let me behave like I want to behave okay? I don't need to listen to you. Then Natasha walked into my room. Don't ask me how she did it, because from the outside you have to unlock the door to get in and I'm pretty sure she didn't have a key. "Mature," she said as she saw me jumping on the bed. "Hey, we're all kids on the inside, at least, we all are in Disneyland." She smiled, "Maybe." "What are you two constantly smiling about?" "What?" "You and Pepper, you've been smiling a lot since we entered the park." "Oh, I guess it's just good to see you happy again." "What?" "Well, Pepper hasn't seen you happy before of course, but she noticed that something was off about you." "You mean, I look happy?" "Yeah. And you haven't looked happy since, well, you know." I sighed, "Yeah, I know. Let's not talk about that right now, shall we?" "Very good idea, would just ruin the mood." "You know, this bed is very bouncy," I wanted to see if I could lure the kid out of her, if you know what I mean. "I can see that." "And... there's room enough for two to jump." 

"What the hell are you two doing?" Pepper asked as she saw us jump on the bed. She had a key in her hand. So that's where my spare key went. Natasha fell off the bed, surprised by the sudden outburst. "Oof!" It was hilarious and I fell back on the bed laughing. Pepper couldn't help but laugh too it seemed, for she stood there chuckling as she looked at us. "Yeah, go ahead, laugh at me," Natasha said as she stood up. "I'm sorry," I said, "It's just, the graceful Black Widow stumbling to the ground because she got startled," I managed to say while still laughing. "I imagine I looked quite graceful while falling." "God I wish I had it on camera, the internet would love that. Oh, wait a minute," I looked over at my phone, it was standing on my night stand, I had turned the camera on once I had lured Natasha onto the bed. "Oh no," she tried to grab it but I was already there. "Don't you dare put that on the internet! Delete it!" "Oh come on, it's hilarious!" "Fine, keep it, but send it to me. Just me." I nodded, "Okay." "Seriously, if you send it to any of the other Avengers or anyone else you'll find yourself on floating in a pool the next morning." "On an air mattress?" "no, on a giant inflatable duck." "Sounds nice." "You think so." "I like swimming in the morning." "Fine, you'll find yourself there in the middle of the night then." "How scary." "Just don't send it to anyone, okay?" I rolled my eyes, "Yeah, okay." Doesn't mean I can't show anyone. 

Bruce 

"They're where?" I asked Tony when he told me about the whereabouts of the ladies. "Disneyland California." "Are you kidding me? In a time like this?" "Then need some distraction, that's all Pepper's working on." "Disneyland is distraction?" "Yeah, what else would it be?" "Distraction from their duties! We need to make a plan Tony, it's been more than a week now!" "Since when are you so eager to make a fighting plan?" Good question. "I just want to restore the universe Tony. Half of everything is gone, half of all life, humans, humanoids, aliens, animals, plants. Half of all of that! It's unbalancing the universe!" "Well, it's not too much of a problem... all planets can still survive." "Yes, but what about the creatures that live on them, half of all the flora also means half of the amount of oxygen that's supposed to be in the air." "I know Bruce, I know. But half of all life is gone, so we only need half of that as well. Look, I know it sounds weird, but it's not that big a problem. The real problem is getting the Infinity Stones. Because that's what we'll need. And to get those, we have to fight Thanos. And to fight him we need to find him first." I sighed, "I know." "And that's what we're doing, tracking him down. We have trackers on some of his ships, we just need a way to reach them." "Oh." "and Shuri would be very helpful in that, but she's a kid Bruce. She needs to be out of this for a while." "I know, you're right. I... I'm sorry." "No, it's okay, I know the last few years have been hard on you. I mean, you where... the other guy all the time." "Yeah, I just wish I could turn back into the Hulk again. Maybe I'd be of more use." "Hey, you did a great job in the Hulk buster." "Tony, I ruined it." He shrugged, "I don't care, you kicked some alien ass, that's what counts. And I can repair it anyway, it's not like it's never needed repairing before." "Which was also my fault." "Yeah, but that's what it's build for. And technically, that was Wanda messing with your head." "So... you really don't mind?" He placed his hands on my shoulders and looked me straight in the eye, "Bruce, look at me and listen closely. You're my friend okay? I don't care what's inside you, I mean, I don't care about the other guy. He's not you. You are an amazing human. You're smart, one of the best scientist I met. You're a good listener, although you fall asleep sometimes when people are talking to you. You're funny, and you're a good person okay? And nothing the Hulk does can change that." "Thanks Tony." I just wish other people thought that as well. 

Tony and I worked on the ant helmets the next day, without Shuri of course, but with Rocket. It was easier for him, because he had smaller hands, so he worked faster than us. It was strange to see him work. A raccoon, sitting like a human, handing tools like a human. There was something sad about it. He was turned into something against his will. I knew how that felt. Although it went kinda different with me. An experiment gone wrong, I was lucky to be alive, some people said, but inside of me there's a monster. I knew that sometimes Rocket saw himself as a monster too. He had said as much. I kinda pitied the guy. I know Tony did as well, he related to the creature too. Underestimated, people think they're nothing without their weapons. Underappreciated, people think they're always there, they almost become a part of the furniture or something, but they're still a vital part of the community. And they drink when things get too much, I knew that about Rocket because I knew that about Tony and they're alike in many ways, They're both afraid to let people come close. Afraid that people will try to change some aspect of them if they open themselves up. I wish they'd see we won't try to change them. I wish they'd see that we know how it feels when people try to change you. "Hey guys, it's time for dinner," I said. They looked up, "That the time already?" Rocket said with surprise. Tony looked at his watch, "Yeah, it is. I wonder if Pepper's back yet, I asked her to do something for me." "What did you ask her?" I asked. "To pick up an old friend of mine," Tony said with a mysterious smile. 


	6. Gorillas and panthers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... there are a few continuity errors in this chapter... but they'look be fixed later on... I promise.

Pepper

Before we took the jet back to Wakanda, Tony called me to ask me a question. "Tony? Why are you calling me?" "Do I need a reason to call my fiancée?" "You could just text me, if you call me it must be important." "You know me too well..." "So, what is it?" "I uh... I just thought of something. We're going to need as much brains as possible." "What?" "Remember Aldrich Killian?" "Unfortunately, I do." "Well... then you must remember when I crashed the suit and couldn't contact you with it and all that, you know, right before I rescued you?" "I seem to remember that it was me that saved your sorry ass." "True, not the point, but true. Anyway, the suit... there was this kid that helped me to... get it back "online" if you know what I mean." "And you want me to pick that kid up?" "His name is Harley." "Really?" "He's smart Pepper! We need as much brains as we can get. I know where he lives, but you're better at reasoning with people." "And that's why you need me to pick that kid up. So I can reason with his parents." "With his mom and him yeah." I sighed, "Fine, give me the address." 

"He asked you to do what?" "To fetch this boy called Harley." "And, why?" "Cause he's smart Nat, that's why." "You sure it's not because he's used to having a "student" working under him now, you know, someone he tries his best to protect, which he did kinda fail at before..." "Nat!" "I know, it wasn't his fault, it was big purple ugly Thanos, but still, you think it's a good idea to drag another kid into this? We already have one highly emotional teenager walking around, and someone still needs to tell May what happened!" "How do you know May's name?" "Research." "Spies," I sighed. "Get used to it." "Nat, he needs this... I know it sounds weird, but... the thing is, Tony is weird." "I'm aware of that." "And he really needs this." "Fine," Natasha gave in, "fine, I'm gonna keep myself out of this." "Thank you." "But you tell Shuri about our detour." "I expected nothing less." 

It was clear that Natasha thought it a bad plan to drag another kid into this. She was right of course, but... Tony really needed it. I don't know why, but he did. Shuri's reaction to the news was unexpected. She seemed to be happy about it. Probably because she wouldn't be the only teenager hanging around with a bunch of boring adults, although you could hardly call the Avengers boring. I guess it's just a teenager thing. 

The boy in question, Harley Keener, was very surprised when the jet landed in front of his house. And he seemed to be even more surprised when he opened the door and I told him I had a message from Tony Stark. It took me some time, but I eventually convinced both him and his mother. His sister was skeptical, it seemed like she didn't want him to go. But he told her this: "Tony Stark needs me. I have to go, cause he helped me when I needed him. Remember the bullies? They stopped bothering me because of him. Now there are some very big bullies out there who're bothering him... I need to help him, okay? I promise I'll come back." She nodded, "Be careful." "I will be." He then hugged her, sighed, got up from the couch and faced me. "Alright, let's go." 

Natasha

So, of course the kid was a tech nerd, like Stark himself and like his late intern, Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man, what do you mean I'm not supposed to know that? So, Shuri was pretty happy to talk tech while I was flying the jet back to Wakanda. 

"You still disapprove?" Pepper's voice sounded behind me. "Does this look like the face of approval?" I asked her as I turned on the auto pilot and turned around to face her. "Not really no." "There's your answer then." "I thought so." I sighed, "I just hope he'll prove useful... Tony is right, we need as many "brains" as we can get." "We do." "So now we have you, Tony, Bruce, Shuri and Harley." "I'm definitely not as smart as them." "You are pretty smart though." "So is Scott." "True." "And you're pretty good with computers." "I'm an expert hacker, doesn't make me that smart." "You hacked the War-Machine to give the controls back to Rhodey." "Like I said expert hacker." She rolled her eyes. "What?" "Expert, really?" I shrugged, "Part of my training." "Oh." "One of the good parts." 

Pepper and I remained silent for the rest of the flight, not really feeling the need to talk. Shuri on the other hand was showing off her tech, explaining how it all worked and all. Harley was very interested and kept asking questions about everything she showed him. She eventually showed him around the jet and told him stories of Wakanda after. They finally shut up when we arrived in Wakanda, after a very long story about T'Challa ruining his first date by freezing when he saw his date or something. I carefully landed the jet. We were barely on the ground or the kids were out. Shuri was going to show him her lab, where Tony would be, or so she said. "Teenagers," I mumbled. "Tiring huh?" "Just listening to those two tech-nerd gave me a headache." "How did you survive in the Avengers compound?" "Hanging around Steve and Clint." "Makes sense. You're close." "Who? Me and Steve or me and Clint?" "Both. Although, you do seem a lot closer to Steve lately." "So?" "A lot closer." I sighed, "Pepper, no." "You sure?" "Very sure." "Even after that whole nightmare thing? How he woke you up, how he stayed with you during the night." "Since when are you so curious?" "Well, you've always been close, and you seemed to show some interest in him, you know, before everything that happened with Bruce." "I did not!" "Yes you did!" "He had Sharon!" "And you seemed so displeased with that." "Because she's Peggy's niece! I mean, that's a little creepy." "Okay, that's true, but I'm certain that there's more." "Good for you, but no." "Are you sure?" "Pepper!" She laughed, "Your reaction says enough you know?" "What?" "You're trying hide it." "Hide what?" "Your feelings for Steve." "I don't have feelings for Steve." "Stop it Natasha, I see the way you look at him. And I'm pretty sure he returns the feeling. Also, the two of you have practically been alone for two years." "Yeah, alone with Sam." "That is kind of a problem yes." I sighed, "Pepper, just... shut up okay? There's nothing between me and Steve." She shrugged, "If you say so." "Thank you." 

"Hey Nat, good to see that you all made it back alright," Clint came up to me as I walked towards the Avengers common room. "you expected us to die of too much sugar or something?" "No, but you could have fallen out of a rollercoaster. Why the bad temper?" "Pepper thinks I have a crush on Steve." "Ah... oh, that's annoying." "Yeah, it is." "But why are you so angry over that?" "Because everybody always thinks that I'm in love with someone, as if I need to be in love with someone to be a normal human or something. As if not being in love makes me less valid. I don't get it! Really! There's this thing called: I don't need a guy, deal with it!" Clint laughed. "What?" "You're amazing." "Wha... where does that suddenly come from?" Clint shrugged, "Hey, I'm your best friend, I gotta be supportive right?" I rolled my eyes, "Yeah, right." "It's just, I can see why I fell in love with you once... why I let you live." "Because of my temper?" "No, because you don't let others define you, at all." I smiled, "Well, where's the fun in that?" "Neverland?" I sighed, "Clint..." "What?" "I've had enough Disney for quite some time okay?" "Yeah, about that, you got me some Mickey Mouse ears?" "Clint, you're a grown-up and an assassin." "So you got me a pair right?" "Of course." 

Tony

"Mr. Stark?" The voice behind me sounded faintly familiar. As if I heard it before, but as if it had changed. Makes sense, the kid grew up. I turned around to face the boy, "Harley... I'm glad you came." "I heard you needed help." "Indeed I do." "With aliens?" I sighed, "I'm afraid so kid." "The same aliens that gave you nightmares?" "They are involved yes." He nodded. He looked scared. Dammit, he shouldn't have to be involved in this... But... I just don't really know how to work on my own anymore... I'm used to having a young man working as my intern... as my wingman... Peter.... "Are you okay Mr. Stark?" He sounded concerned. "Huh? Yeah, I'm fine." He gave me a look that said: You're not, but I'll respect your privacy... for now. He really had grown up. He was a lot more mature, calmer, less curious. "How's your sister?" "She's fine. She didn't want me to go, she thinks it's dangerous." "She's smart." "Yeah... How dangerous is it?" "Well... half of the universe has died already." "I noticed." "This guy we're fighting, he'll stop at nothing." "Meaning?" "He killed someone... someone he raised as a daughter to achieve his goal." Harley shivered, "Well... that's bad... but he needs to be stopped." He's braver than he was. Or he just tries to be brave. "You know you don't have to do this right?" "You helped me once, it's about time I returned the favor." "I had you running around like an intern fetching my sandwich and my coffee." He shrugged, "I got to go on some kind of adventure, and you paid me in tech." "That I did." "So I still owe you a favor." "You don't owe me anything kid." "Well, I want to help, and stop calling me kid." I nodded, "Are you sure about this, Harley?" He stared me right in the eye as he replied, "Very sure." I could see that he was afraid, I could see that he knew the risks and I could see that he meant what he said. "I've been living on this planet for seventeen years. It's about time I'd learn how to defend it, how to defend the people I care about." God, he grew up. 

I showed him the little ant helmets. "So, what do they do?" They help one of our allies, Scott, to control ants." "Why helmets?" "Because that's all the Pym tech Scott could get his hands on, together with the enlargement disks... and a prototype for new enlargement disks whose effect only lasts for forty-eight hours." "That's awesome!" "Yeah, it's pretty cool, I just wish he could have gotten some of those shrinking disks that he talked about too. Would have made it all a lot easier." "Yeah, cause you could just shrink the aliens and step on them." "Indeed," I said with a smile. "That would be great, especially if we had one of those ant camera's and went all Godzilla on those aliens," Shuri said. This prompted both of them to act like they were Godzilla. I shook my head and smiled. Yeah, maybe not that grown up. 

Shuri

Yeah, sure, the Avengers are cool and all, but having another teenager around was somehow better than being surrounded by adults. He at least understood my movie/meme/vine references, even the ones that the secret meme Queen of the Avengers didn't get. And he was eager to learn. Even more eager than Tony. And Tony was pretty eager to learn from me, even though I'm younger than him, maybe it was because I grew up with all this tech and he didn't. Oh well, he could have been a lot less friendly towards me, but instead it sometimes seemed like he wanted to adopt me or something. 

"So, this whole lab is yours?" Harley asked me after we were done for the day. "Yup." "And... what do you make here?" "Weapons, suits, the occasional shield. Or I upgrade stuff. Like how I updated the Black Widow suit because it needed it, I mean, a bullet could have pierced it with ease. Who the hell comes up with that kind of stuff?" "And this vibranium... it's the strongest metal on the world right?" "Yup, that's why there's now a layer of it on Nat's suit. Cause that idiot kept running around fighting aliens while being as vulnerable as a freaking slug." Harley chuckled, "Yeah, that's not smart." "At least she had the suit on while fighting." "I heard that sometimes she doesn't." "When they're taken by surprise yes." "So you guys weren't taken by surprise?" "Nah, we were warned." "By who?" "Bruce." "Dr. Banner?" "Yup, that one." "The Hulk?" "Sometimes. Not at all lately. I think the Hulk dumped him." Harley laughed, "Dumped him, oh poor Banner." "Yeah, he even scolded him, but he didn't want to play." "Seriously?" "Yeah, it's kind of a problem, the Hulk could have come in handy while fighting those damn aliens." "Wow." "Yeah, a lot of shit went down here..." "So I hear." 

"So," I said, trying not to sound too curious, "Tony helped you once huh?" "Uh, yeah. He gave me some of his tech to scare of some bullies. They stopped bothering me ever since." "And now you want to help him." "I do." "Why?" "Because he seems desperate." "He does." "What happened to him?" I sighed, "I can only tell you what I heard." "Please?" "Well... you heard of this Spider-Man right?" "Uh, yeah!" "Well... that was Tony's intern... He was about our age." "Wait, seriously?" "Yeah. His name was Peter, Peter Parker. He followed Tony to Titan, the planet of Thanos..." "He died?" "Yeah, well... more like disappeared... but Tony still feels guilty. Of course he still would have disappeared if he hadn't been there. I'm quite sure the "snap" still would have selected the same people." "Sounds fair." "Yeah..." "Did... did you lose someone?" I sighed, "My brother... The King of Wakanda... and the Black Panther..." "Wait.. your brother... your brother was the Black Panther?" "He was yes..." "So... who takes the mantle of the Black Panther now?" "What?" "It's like... some kind of inheritance right? The leader of the country becomes the Black Panther too, right?" "Well... yes." "So... you're the Queen now, right?" "I am, but that's just till we get the other half of the universe back..." "Then... can't you be the Black Panther? You know... temporary?" I sighed, "I wish I could... but we don't have the heart shaped herb anymore... it's what gave the Black Panther his/her powers. Our supply was burned by Erik Killmonger after he became King... Nakia managed to steal one, but just one, and that one was used on T'Challa to give him his powers back so he could claim his rightful place as King." "So... your supply was burned... aren't there any of them left in the wild?" "I... I don't think so..." "Have you searched for them?" "Well... no." "Why not?" "Well... I don't know!" "Maybe you should." "Maybe you should keep your nose out of other people's business." "So you're going to look for them tomorrow?" "Of course I am!" "Need help?" I sighed. "That'd be nice yes." "Good. See ya tomorrow." I rolled my eyes and sighed, "See ya tomorrow." 

The next morning he was waiting for me in my lab, together with... well, with the whole gang. "I see you brought everyone." "I did yes." "Why?" "We'll, you said some help would be nice." "I did." "So I got you some more help." "Seriously?" "Hey, they're all willing to help." I sighed, "Yeah, I see." "Don't complain, just go with it," Natasha said. I raised my hands in defeat, "Fine, I'll let you all come along. But watch where you're going. I don't want any of you to be snatched up by monkeys." "What?" "I don't want any of you to be snatched up by monkeys." "You're not serious, are you?" Nat looked at me questioningly. "She's very serious," Okoye told her. "How big are those monkeys?" "Oh, you know," I said as I waved them all out of my lab, "gorilla size." 

Steve

So, this gorilla sized monkeys turned out to be gorillas. "I thought she said gorilla sized monkeys," Nat whispered. "Well, technically gorillas are gorilla sized monkeys." "Shut up Sam." "It's true though, right Steve?" "Sam..." "Yes?" "Shush." "Hey!" "Sam, they'll attack us if you don't shut up!" "Can you both stop shouting?" "Sorry," Sam and I said in unison. "Let's move away from here, before they see us. Steve might be able to take one of them, but I don't wanna end up as monkey chow." Sam chuckled, "Monkey chow." "Gorillas are herbivorous," I brought up. "Yeah, so they'd just tear you apart and leave you for the other animals, like tigers, and panthers," Sam said. "Sam, stop it." "Or your body will just rot till somebody finds it and shits himself," Nat commented dryly. "Guys, how about we move out?" "Aye, aye Captain," Nat said. Sam stifled a laugh. "What?" "Oh, sorry, didn't you understand that reference?" "No, he just can't hear ya." They both tried their best not to laugh. "What's going on?" "It's... something from a children's series Steve." "Then why do you know?" Natasha shrugged, "Clint's kids." "And you," I asked as I turned to Sam. "Internet." "Ah." 

"Hold up," I said as I stopped Sam and Nat. "I heard something." I held my hand up, I heard a rustling sound. "You guys heard that?" "We're not deaf Rogers." "Yeah, I heard that." The rustling sounded again. "It's coming closer," I whispered. "It sounds big," Sam replied. "Sure does." "You don't sound too concerned," I said as I turned to Nat. "Well, it's..." she stopped for a second as the rustling continued, "two pairs of footsteps." "How do you know that?" "I'm trained for this kind of shit Sam. Anyway, if it's two gorillas, you can take one, we can take the other, we might be able to beat them." "You think?" She shrugged, "Maybe." 

"WRAAAAAH! ON YOUR LEFT!!" the surrounding bush opened up to reveal... Shuri wearing a gorilla mask and Harley holding a camera. Sam and I jumped up, she startled us. Nat was leaning against a tree, laughing. I turned to her, "You knew!" "You guys should have seen your faces." Shuri lifted the gorilla mask off her face and high-fived Natasha, "Thanks for the help." "You're welcome." "I thought we were searching for that stupid herb!" Sam yelled. "We are, we're just trying to have some fun," Shuri told him. "Can you blame us." "The two of you? No, you're kids. Natasha on the other hand," he said as he turned to face her, "I expected better from you." "Sorry to disappoint you. I feel very bad now." "You don't. I see it on your face." "Aw, you're starting to know me." "You smug little," he tried to grab her arm, but suddenly she was up in the tree she had been leaning against. "You're slow birdie." "Don't call me birdie!" She looked down at him with a smirk. "You know you like me." "you're the worst friend I've ever had." "But we are friends." "Just get down so I can mess your hair up." "No thank you." "Is that a snake at your ankles?" "Not falling for that." "Uh... Nat, there actually is a snake..." I said. "Wait, what?" She fell over while trying to search for the snake, that actually wasn't really there, and she fell out of the tree. "Woah, ow! I hate you Rogers." I looked down at her with a smirk, "You know you like me." She rolled her eyes, she never really liked it when somebody used her own words against her, "Just help me up, will you?" "Sure," I picked her up and put her on her feet. "Just a hand would have done fine," she mumbled. "So, can we search with you guys?" Harley asked. "Tony and Bruce are getting a little boring," Shuri explained. "Yeah, sure," Natasha answered. 

"You okay?" I asked Natasha. "Uh, yeah, why wouldn't I be?" "You just fell out of a tree." "Oh, that. Well, I didn't break anything." "You're limping," I pointed out. "I might have twisted my ankle." "And you didn't say anything?" "Well, I did say "ow", so I did say something." "You should go back." "And that's why I didn't say anything." "Nat, you shouldn't keep walking on that, it'll only make it worse." She rolled her eyes, "I'm fine Steve." "You're not." "Just shut up about it okay? I don't wanna go back to just sit in that stupid common room and do nothing!" "Uh.. you guys okay back there?" Sam's voice sounded. "Nat twisted her ankle," I explained. "And she's too stubborn to go back," Sam stated. He didn't have to ask, he just knew. "Maybe you should carry her." "I'd rather be monkey chow," Nat mumbled. Sam shrugged, "Your choice." "You'll punch me if I try to carry you?" "I will." I sighed, "Fine then, you'll walk, but that'll get worse. Don't say I didn't warn you." 

Sam

The kids were fun to hang around with, especially since Steve and Nat slowed us down a lot. The kids just kept on making jokes and Shuri told us about the wildlife of Wakanda while we "strolled" through the woods. "So, that herb," I eventually said. "It's most likely to grow on a large clearing right?" "Well... yeah, or in a cave. I don't really know." "What? You're the Wakanda expert here." Shuri shrugged, "The tale doesn't say much about the exact location. We grew them underground, so I think we'd have the most chance to find them in underground caves. Or clearings... I mean, the fact that they grow well underground doesn't mean they don't do well above the ground." "Well, that's vague." "I know right?" "So, you have no idea of where this stuff might grow?" "Not in the slightest." "Well, that's very helpful." "At least we know what it looks like," Harley said. "That does help yeah, but not if we have no idea as to where to look." 

"Whoa!" suddenly sounded behind us, followed by the sound of someone falling and sliding down over the ground. "Told you it'd get worse." "Shut up!" We turned around to find Steve staring down at Natasha who had fallen down into a hole. "How's the wheater down there?" I couldn't stop myself from asking. "Hotter cause I'm closer to hell." Steve looked slightly shocked for a moment, then he pulled her out of the hole. "How's the wheater now?" "Better, little less humid. Little more wind. So, if anyone's interested, I'm pretty sure there's a lot of space beneath that hole." "So?" I said. "Well, it could be a cave. And I heard you talking about how the herb could grow underground. Of course there could also be an underground lake filled with monster fish, which is why I'm not volunteering to jump in first." "You want me to go first and risk being eaten by huge fish?" "Yeah, that's fun right?" I rolled my eyes, "Like I said, you're the worst friend I've ever had." "What about Bucky?" "He's not my friend, he's Steve's friend." "Also fine. Now go into the hole little bunny." "If only you said that under different circumstances." "Never." I winked and got myself ready to climb down the hole. Then I let myself fall. 

"Well, there are no monster fish down here." "What is down there?" "Oh, some diamonds." "Nice." "Not what we're looking for though," Shuri said. "Speak for yourself," Natasha replied. "We're looking or the heart shaped herb." "Let me make jokes, will you?" "No. What else do you see Sam?" "Yeah, what do your Falcon eyes see?" I sighed. Really Natasha? I walked a little further into the cave. "There's nothing here!" "You sure?" "Yeah, pretty sure... wait..." "What? What do you see?" "I see a..." I strained to see whatever it was that caught my eye. "I see a weird purple glow." "Seriously? I need to see this!" I heard someone fall down the hole behind me, and suddenly Shuri's voice sounded from behind me instead of from above me. "There is a purple glow." Then she ran further into the cave. "What? Shuri! Wait!" I yelled as I ran after her. I vaguely heard how the others dropped themselves down the hole, but I paid no attention to it as I ran after Shuri, because, who knew what could be hanging around in this cave? 

Shuri

All I did was follow the purple glow and it brought me to what we were looking for. An underground field of the heart shaped herb. I stopped in my tracks, "Wow..." "Shuri, what the hell do you think you're doing?" Sam shouted behind me, right before he bumped into me. "Whoa!" He quickly grabbed my arm to make sure that I stayed upright. "What the hell were you thinking? There could have been some kind of animal down this cave!" I pointed at the underground field and he looked up. "What the..." "We found it," I whispered. "We found it!" Steve, Nat and Harley appeared behind us. "Wow," I heard Harley whisper, "that's awesome." "I know right?" "So... what now?" Sam asked me. "We take one, then I'll tell my people about the location of the rest so we can secure it." "What's gonna happen to the one we take with us?" "I'm gonna use it to become the Black Panther," I said. "Are you sure about this?" Steve asked me. "Very sure." He nodded, "Right, then take one." I walked over and carefully plucked one. I wanted to turn around and walk back, but then I heard some strange meow. "Huh?" "Meow." It came from my left. "What's that?" I went to investigate. "Shuri?" 

I walked just a little deeper into the cave, where I found two black panther cubs. "What the?" They looked as if they'd been there for a while, and as if they'd been alone for quite a while too. "Shuri, what are you doing?" It was Natasha, who'd come after me. "Look." "What?" "Just look." "What's there to look a... Are those black panthers?" "Actually they're leopards with a mutated color gen, but yeah." "They look abandoned." "They do... I'm taking them." "What?" "I'm taking them," I repeated. "Are you sure about that?" "I'm not going to let them die, that'd be cruel!" "I know, it's just, panthers don't really make for the best pets." "I don't think that they're ordinary panthers. I mean, it would be a strange coincidence to find them here right?" "So, this cave makes you think that they're special?" "Yes." "Well... okay." I walked over to them to take a better look at them. "Heh... this one has slightly loner and scruffier fur." "And that's funny because?" "Just, reasons. Here," I handed her the one with the longer fur. "Uh... thanks?" "It's a boy. They're both boys." "So... you gonna name them?" "Of course I am." "What are you going to name them." "I'm not telling you... yet." But I had an idea, a very good idea if you ask me. But, of course I think my own ideas are good. "Well, okay, let's just head back." "Yeah, let's." "Are those baby panthers?" Sam asked as we emerged from the other end of the cave. "You call 'em cubs birdie." "Stop calling me birdie." "Yes, they're panther cubs," I answered. "And they're mine now." 

That night, as we were all sitting in the Avengers common room, looking at the herb and the little cubs I said, "So... you wanna know their names?" "Yes," it sounded throughout the room. I looked at my mother, who was in the room too, then I held up the one with the shorter and neater fur, "This one will be called T'Challa." She smiled at me, "Your brother would have been honored." I have to say, it was quite easy to convince my mother to let me keep the cubs, convincing her to let me become the new Black Panther had been harder. "How about the other one?" She asked. "The other one?" I said as I lifted up the slightly more scruffy cub. "I'll call him N'Jadaka, after my cousin." She nodded, she knew. And he deserved it, for he had been right. The way he tried to prove that he was right had been wrong, but he was right. "So, now we have T'Challa and N'Jadaka, two panther cubs. Two new friends." Two new additions to the family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> By the way, that 6 out of fifteen chapters is only for now because it's the amount of chapters I already have on my computer... so it will become more.


	7. A bigass ship with cats and allies

Thor

It was a week after Shuri's ceremony, a week and a day after she found the heart shaped herb and the two panther cubs. She had named them after her family, one after her brother and the other after her cousin. I understood that perfectly, I knew how it felt to miss a brother. The ceremony hadn't been very interesting. Nobody had challenged her, maybe because they didn't want to fight a girl, or maybe because nobody wanted to lead the country in time like these, in times of despair. That too I understood. I was the King of a broken kingdom. I wondered how my people were doing, they must have been out there somewhere in space. I sighed, "I wish they were here. I wish they were all here, Heimdall too... Loki too..." My best friend... my brother. They're gone... they're gone forever... 

The weather had changed, it was storming outside. The others send me accusing looks from time to time, but I'm not always controlling the weather , and I wasn't at that moment, it was just raining and thundering. I could stop it if I wanted to, but I didn't want too. It was good for the land, maybe some new tree and new plants would be able to grow on the soil... I felt guilty, guilty for not going for the head, but I had wanted revenge... If I had gone for the head, he wouldn't have suffered... but I would have saved so many people...

"You okay Point Break?" "Would you please stop calling me that?" I said while looking up at Tony from out if the chair in which I was sitting. "Sorry," he said with a smile. "But... are you okay?" "What makes you think I'm not?" "Well, you look a little gloomy." "Is it because of the thunder? Because I'm not doing that?" "Well maybe a little. Maybe you're doing it without meaning to... because of your bad mood..." "That... has happened... yes..." "Anyway, I'm not here to accuse you of anything, just checking if you're alright." "I'm doing as well as any man who just lost everything can." "Not very well." "No... not very well." "You know Thor, you can always talk to us." I sighed, "I know, it's just, you wouldn't get my troubles... I mean, sure, you all get the, "losing my family" part, but the part where half of my people were killed... where I, their King, couldn't protect them... none of you would get that..." "That... well that's true. But you can still tell us. You're always there for us when we need someone to talk to... We don't do it that often, but you are there for us." 

"Tony has a point there," Clint said as he leaned over the back of my chair. "you're always there for us, even though you don't understand all of our Midgardian problems." "So, we were all thinking," Bruce joined in, "we need to be there for you a little more often too." "Which is why we're all here for you now," Natasha said. "To support you," Steve finished." I smiled, "Thank you, my friends." "So, you're going to tell us what's bothering you?" I sighed, "I guess you left me no choice." "Not really no," Nat agreed. "Nat..." "Sorry." I smiled, "No, that's okay. You're my friends, I should tell you what's bothering me." I rubbed the back of my neck, not knowing where to start. "Well, it all began when Thanos attacked us I think... or maybe before that, when my sister attacked Asgard and invaded it with her zombie army. Then Surtur destroyed the whole of Asgard and..." I sighed, "We escaped. I thought I was leading my people into safety, but, I wasn't. I lead them right onto Thanos's path. He killed half of them... half of my people, including one of my best friends and my brother. And now, because of me, because I wanted revenge... half of the universe is gone. I had him, I could have killed him, but I buried my axe in his chest! I should have aimed for the head, I could have aimed for the head, but I didn't!" "And you feel guilty for that?" Steve asked. "Of course I do!" "Stop that," Natasha said. "You went for his chest, so what? That could have killed him too... It's where his heart is, if he has one." "But I didn't kill him." "You tried." "We all tried." "Thor, listen. Yes, you made a mistake, but we've all made mistakes. Our mistakes don't define us. It's human, okay? It's normal." I sighed, "I know, I just can't help but feeling guilty." "We all do," Tony said. "we all feel guilty, we all could have prevented it." "How?" "How? Maybe by not fighting against each other. We all did that." I looked up at my friends, Tony was right, they would have stood a better chance if they hadn't been divided. "You all feel bad for that?" The all nodded. "So I'm not the only one who feels guilty?" "Of course you're not." "You're just... well... you're not human, but you're like a human... nobody is perfect Thor." "No, I guess nobody is, no matter how hard we try." I realized now that I had been wrong. I had once said, "What more can I lose". I had thought that there was nothing left that I could lose, but I had been wrong. I still had my friends, I could still lose them. It also gave me a reason to fight, or, an extra reason. To protect my friends. 

Valkyrie

We had been on that ship for I don't know how many days, after Thanos attacked us. He had killed half of the population, and then half of the half that was left suddenly disappeared, or more like... turned to dust. In the meanwhile, we had been flying close to Earth, landing from time to time to see if we could fine Thor somewhere. But, no matter who we asked, they always said they hadn't seen him. That was until we met a certain political scientist called Darcy Lewis. 

"Thor? Yeah, I know Thor. I heard in some kind of press conference that he was in this African country... what was it again?" "Wakanda?" The woman next to her offered. "Oh, yeah, Wakanda." "Can you take us there?" I asked her. "What, me? Uh... I don't think so... I don't know the next thing about flying." "Could you show us its location on a map?" "Yeah, sure, I'm pretty good with geography and all that. You got a map?" "Well... no... I thought maybe you could provide the map." "Well... only on my phone, but that's a pretty small screen so..." "Then we'll just have to take you with us." "Yeah, sure, wait what?" "You'll come with us to lead us to Wakanda. The people of Asgard need their King!" "King?" "Yes, Thor is the King of Asgard." "I thought his father was the King of Asgard." "His father is dead. So is his sister." "Thor had a sister?" "Yes. She was a bitch." "There really is a lot wrong with that family, isn't there?" "You have no idea." "You think so?" "His brother once stabbed him when he was... eight or nine or something like that." "Yeah, and he send the Destroyer after him just a few years ago, then he tried to take over Earth." "Wow." "Yeah, I know." 

"How did all those cats get on your ship?" "Huh?" "Those four legged furry little creatures. Long tails, pointy ears, slit pupiled eyes." "Oh, those. We have landed on this planet several times... they just got on the ship." "You didn't want to chase them off?" "Is it very bad if I say that I'm too lazy to chase them off?" "Nah, cats are assholes." "What?" "You'll see." She is weird. She picked up one of the cats, a black one, and scratched him behind his ears. The cat made a strange noise. "You like that huh?" "How can you tell?" "Because he's purring." "Is that how you call that noise?" "Yes." "You Midgardians got a word for everything?" "Probably." "What would you call me?" Darcy shrugged, "Alcoholic." "Excuse me?" "I can smell it off you." 

"Darcy?" We turned around to face Lady Sif. "Huh? Uh... Sif right?" "Yes. What are you doing here." "I'm recruited to lead you guys to Wakanda. Because Booze Head over there doesn't know how to read maps." "How did you just call me?" "Brunnhilde, calm down!" "She insulted me." "Darcy is a little... well... Darcy. Anyway, she didn't mean to disrespect you." "Sorry," she said, and she sounded like she meant it." "You know her?" I asked Sif. "A little." "Fine, you fly the ship to our destination then... I can't fly..." "Why not?" "Well... She is kinda right, I'm a bit of a Booze Head." Sif nodded, "I'll make sure we'll get there safely. You rest." "I will," I said and I walked off. 

Sif

"Sorry for that," I said to Darcy. "She's been a little moody lately, and she's even worse when she's drunk." "It's okay." "Hmmmm, how are your friends, Jane, Dr. Selvig?" "They're fine I think... haven't seen them in a while." "How so?" "Well, you know, I was just an intern... we didn't really stay in touch after the internship." "Really?" "Yeah." I didn't believe it. After all they went through together, but she probably had a good reason to tell me something different, so I let her be. "How about the boyfriend I heard of... Ian?" "I don't wanna talk about that." "Oh... did he disappear?" "No... we broke up..." "Oh..." "So... how about your friends. The Warriors three right?" "killed by Thor's evil sister Hela..." "Oh... ouch." "Yes." "You must miss them." "Very much." Darcy looked at me sympathetically, "I'm sorry... for your loss." "Thank you..." "Meow." "Why the cat?" I asked. "Dunno, animals like me." "Aha." "And there are a lot of cats on the ship." "We don't really feel like chasing them off, we had a lot of mice earlier." "Ah, so that's why you're keeping the cats." "They're much more pleasant than mice." "Yeah, they are, although mice can be kinda cute I suppose." "Not when they're nibbling on your toes when you're trying to sleep," I told her. "Did that happen to you?" I thought back to a few nights ago when I found a mouse nibbling at my toes in the middle of the night, "No. It's just... pure logic." "So there was a mouse nibbling at your toes not so long ago?" I sighed, "Yes." 

Darcy

The space ship was amazing, there was all this weird tech and blinking buttons and I might have accidentally shot down a pigeon, but I don't talk about that. The flight to Wakanda took longer than I expected, especially since we only flew by night. You know, because humans aren't really used to space-ships. They know aliens exist by now, they just like to deny it... Well... most of them. I was on a ship with humanoid beings from another planet, kinda hard to deny the existence of aliens when you're in a situation like that. 

While on the ship I got a few calls, and a whole load of text messages, from Jane. It was a little awkward sometimes, especially since I had told Sif that I lost contact with either her and Erik, although I'm pretty sure she didn't believe me. But the most awkward part of those calls was the stuff Jane wanted to talk about. After she broke up with Thor, she discovered something... and it was not something scientific. Hold your breath. Jane was pregnant. I know, shocker... stop holding your breath. Don't choke on it either please. So, Jane discovered that she was pregnant, and of course it was Thor's. And that's the kind of stuff Jane wanted to talk about. Most of it was "Should I keep it or not?" Sometimes it was: "God how could I have been so stupid?" And other times it was more like: "Should I tell Thor." And the next day was always: "I'm not gonna tell him." Followed by: "I should tell him." the next day. It was driving me crazy, but I like to think that I'm a nice friend, so I kept being sympathetic and all. 

"Darcy," she said one day, "I think I'm gonna keep it." "Ya think?" "Well, I'm quite sure actually." "Should I say congratulations?" "That's... not necessary." "I'm saying it anyway." "Of course you are." "Congratulations!" "Who are you congratulating," Sif's voice sounded behind me. "Darcy, who's that?" "Uh, no one," I told both Sif and Jane. "Is that Jane?" "Darcy?" "No." "Then who is it?" "What, no?" "Uh... look, pretty bird." Sif tilted her head slightly and looked at me as if she wanted to say: "you really think I'll fall for that?" "Darcy, that doesn't work over the phone." "You usually fall for it though...." "Darcy, who are you talking to?" Sif demanded. "Darcy, who is that?" I sighed, "Fine, if both of you shut up then I'll explain everything." "Excuse me?" "You wanna hear an explanation or no?" I asked Sif. "Well, yes." "Then shut up!" 

"But you told me you lost all contact with Jane!" Sif said as I told her who I was talking to. I sighed, "Well... I had... for a while." "But then I called her." The phone was on speaker now, so Sif could hear everything Jane said and Jane could hear everything Sif said. "Why?" "Because... well... Because I'm pregnant..." "So?" "I needed someone I could trust... and I don't have that many friends... Also, I was panicking and Darcy is surprisingly good at calming me down when I'm panicking." "No idea how that happened," I said sarcastically. Jane panicked quite a lot when I started my internship. "Shut up." "No." "Darcy." "You're like, panicking all the time." "That was only in the beginning of your internship." "Probably before that too." "Well... maybe a bit." "You're 24/7 stressed though." "I'm not." "Then what are you now?" "Well.... Stressed..." "Aha." "But that's because one of Thor's friends found out that I'm pregnant!" "And it's Thor's I assume?" "Who else's would it be?" Sif shrugged, then she seemed to realize that Jane couldn't see that and she said, "I don't know. I know nothing about your love life." "Well, let me tell you, it can't be anybody else's." "Lonely, feeling so lonely." "Darcy, you don't have anybody either." "Touché." "Well, that makes the three of us," Sif said. Jane sighed on the other side of the line, "Can you please do me a favor?" "That depends on it." "Can you please not tell Thor?" "Why?" "He doesn't need to know." "And why not? It's his kid too." "I know, it's just, we broke up... this doesn't need to be any more awkward." "You think you can handle a demigod?" Sif asked questioningly. "I hope so. Please just... don't..." Sif sighed, she was clearly annoyed, but she gave in, "Fine, I won't tell him." "Thanks." "Don't thank me." "Can I hang up now?" I asked. "Yes, you can." "Bye Jane." "Bye Darcy." 

Sif

I did not like this at all. Jane was pregnant with Thor's kid and he had the right to know. I know, I agreed not to tell him, but I wasn't sure if I could really stop myself from telling him if I faced him. Also, I might have been a little bit jealous... just a little bit. I mean, I did have feelings for Thor... I've had feelings for Thor for quite some time and she didn't... not anymore, but she was pregnant with his child. It seemed unfair to me. It still does. "Hey, Sif, you okay?" It was Brunnhilde. "Yeah, I'm fine." "You seem distraught." I sighed, "It's nothing." "You're lying." "I'm not." She raised an eyebrow at me. "Fine, I'm distraught." "What happened?" "Thor's ex is pregnant with Thor's child." "Wait... Thor has an ex?" "Yes." "Where?" "Here on Earth." "Thor has a Midgardian ex?" "Yes." "And she's pregnant?" "Yes." "Meow?" "Cat?" "Meow." "Shoo!" I told the cat, and he hissed and ran off. "So... and... you're distraught because?" "Thor's ex is pregnant with his child!" "So what?" "Well..." "Oh, wait, I get it. You fancy Thor don't you? And you're, what, jealous?" "No!" "Sure?" "Very sure." "Because the fact that you're angry says something else." "Oh shut up." "How long have you had feelings for Thor?" "What does it matter to you?" She shrugged, "It doesn't, I'm just curious whether or not he picked a Midgardian over you." "He did..." "Ow." "But... you know... he was happy... for a while... Anyway... it doesn't matter. Neither does it help that I'm angry about all of this. I mean, it happened, no way of turning it back." "Nope. So, you gonna tell him?" "I can't, I promised." "Did you now?" "Yes." "Did you really say, I promise I won't tell him?" "Well, I didn't phrase it like that no..." "Did you say the words, I promise?" "No." "Then, technically speaking, you didn't promise anyone anything." "Huh..." "Think about that," she said and she left. 

I have to admit, the thought was interesting, but it still felt like a promise to me... And I don't like breaking my promises. "Well, this is just great." This was one of the many moments I wished my friends where there. I could share this with them... okay, maybe not the part about my feelings for Thor... although I'm sure they knew about that, they could tell me what to do and I wouldn't have to keep this secret on my own. Sure, I just told Brunnhilde, but knowing the drunk Valkyrie she'd probably have forgotten it when we reached Wakanda. Which was in a few hours, so that says enough about her drinking habits... Okay, maybe they're not that bad, but she probably wouldn't care about it anyway... Or maybe she would tell him and I wouldn't have to break my promise. I mean, I only promised that I wouldn't tell Thor, not anybody else. And I can't control other people. And maybe Brunnhilde thought he had the right to know, just like I do... I mean, she's a Valkyrie, and Valkyries are loyal to the rightful ruler of Asgard... and her telling him would show loyalty right? 

Shuri

It was early in the morning when I, once again, got a phone call from a complete stranger. "Hi, uhm, my name is Darcy Lewis... I'm a... a friend of Thor... I have found his people and I'd like to ask if it's okay with you if we... you know, come into your country." "What?" "I have found the Asgardians." "Is this a prank?" "Does it sound like a prank?" "The context does, your voice however sounds fully serious." "Just... ask Thor." "Okay." I walked over to the Avengers common room. "Hey guys, is Thor here?" "I am," he answered from the couch. "Well, get your lazy ass off of there, I got someone on the phone who claims to know you." "What? What is this person's name?" "Lazy ass?" I heard Nebula whisper. "How can an ass be lazy. "It's a phrase," Rocket explained." "Ugh, Terrans." "Her name is Darcy Lewis..." He looked at me, he looked stunned, or surprised or, whatever. "Hand me the phone." "Sure," I said as I handed it over to him. "Darcy?" He spoke into the device, then his face lit up, "It really is you." Silence, then, "Is that Sif? Is she okay? She's fine? That's great. Who else is there. Valkyrie huh? Yes, I know her name is Brunnhilde..." Another silence. "Yes, I shall ask permission for my people to cross these borders, thank you Darcy." "Tell them they can cross," I told him. I had already send a message to the guards. "We'll wait them up, let's go." 

"You hear that? Everybody get your lazy asses off the couch," Clint said. "Said the laziest ass," Natasha remarked. "True," he answered and the Avengers laughed for a moment. In the meanwhile, Thor told Darcy, or whoever it was that he had on the phone now, that they could pass. "We'll be waiting for you." 

And wait we did, for at least twenty minutes. But, it was worth it, the Asgardians are awesome, even when there are just a few of them. And there was also a whole bunch of cats. No special Asgardian cats, just cats. They all followed this big black tomcat, like it was some freaking army of cats. It was hilarious. Thor hugged his friends, which included Lady Sif, and if I heard it right she was the Norse Goddess of War. He also hugged Darcy, which prompted her to awkwardly pat his back. Darcy was... well... a little weird, you wouldn't think that she was smart, but she was actually a lot smarter than she looked. 

"So, you're Darcy Lewis huh?" Natasha asked. "Yes, and... you're the Black Widow, you're kinda awesome, kicking ass and all that." "You're the girl who hacked S.H.I.E.L.D. while those aliens attacked New-York... right?" "Indeed I am." "Hmmm... impressive." "Impressive for sure," Tony agreed. "Uh... thanks?" "You're welcome, thanks for calling me awesome by the way." "You're welcome." "Wait a minute," I joined in, "You hacked S.H.I.E.L.D.?" "I did, and that's when I found out that S.H.I.E.L.D. stands for: Strategic, Homeland, Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division." "That's still a mouthful," Pepper said. That's what they called it when they tried to recruit Tony for the first time back in 2008." "Well, we shortened it to S.H.I.E.L.D.," Natasha said. "Good thing to, otherwise our enemies would have shot us before we were even done speaking the name of the division we work for," Clint said. "Quite likely," Steve agreed. Tony laughed, Nebula rolled her eyes and Rocket just looked confused. "I thought a shield was a barrier to protect people, or objects, from something." "That too, my sweet rabbit," Thor said. "Thor, that's a raccoon," Sif told him. The Valkyrie, Brunnhilde, just laughed because he called Rocket a rabbit. "Did I say rabbit again?" "Yes, you did?" "Don't be ashamed, I used to call him a fox," Nebula brought up. "How do you see a fox in that?" Nebula shrugged, "The fluffy tail, the pointy nose." "Well, at least none of you calls me "Triangle-faced monkey" I've been called that once." "That was Ego right?" "I hate that guy." "We all hate that guy." "Who's Ego?" Thor asked. "Oh, that was Peter's ass of a dad. He was a Celestial, he's dead now." "You killed a Celestial?" Sif asked sounding impressed and mildly frightened. "Yeah, with a bomb, but don't worry, I don't have any bombs here, so it'd be impossible for me to kill any Gods. Even if I wanted to." "Good." 

Nebula

And so the big blond idiot was reunited with his people and his friends. It was a good thing of course, Thanos's army wouldn't stand a chance against the Asgardians, but still, I couldn't help but feeling angry. I didn't know why, until the raccoon came up to me and said, "You wanna be reunited with your friends too eh?" I looked down at him, "I don't have any friends." "You had your sister." "That was all..." "Yeah, maybe... You know, you'd probably be welcome to stay with us if all of this is over... Wait, did I tell you that before?" "I think you did. But I'm pretty sure you, Guardians of the Galaxy, wouldn't trust me." "Gamora would for sure." "But she's dead." "We can bring her back." "This is not like what happened to the others Rocket! She really died!" "Yes, but if we get our hands on those Infinity Stones, then... maybe... we could use the Soul Stone... I mean... Thanos used her to get it right? So, it could be that her soul is... in that stone. Maybe we could get it out? I mean, the Space Stone can make portals to different points in space, maybe it could open a portal to that Soul world too..." "Maybe... But we'd still need her body..." "And... You don't know where that is?" "Actually... I do." "Where is it?" "Well... if it hasn't decayed yet, it must still be on the planet where Thanos obtained the stone." "And that is?" "I won't tell you unless you promise me one thing." "Tell me." "when you guys go look for her body... you take me with you." "Deal." "The name of the planet is Vormir." "Huh, sounds like vomit." "Are you kidding me?" "Oh, come on, it sounds like vomit." "No, it doesn't." "Yes, it does!" "It doesn't..." "Oh come on!" I sighed, "Fine, it does show some similarities to vomit." "You see?" "Crazy fox." "I am not a fox!" "I know." 

"What.. what's going on?" We turned to see Thor, who was surrounded by the small army of cats that had gotten out of the Asgardians' ship. "I think they like you," Darcy said. "Huh, Thor seems to be more of a dog person," Clint said. "That's not helping Barton." "I know, it's just... you do look like a dog person." "Clint." "Hold on, he has a point there," Natasha joined in. "No, he does not!" "Well, actually," both Tony and Rhodes said. "Guys, please, just help me." "They're just cats Thor, shoo them away," Sif told him. "I tried, they won't go." "You're not doing it right." "How could I not be doing it right? They just won't go Sif!" All the Avengers were laughing. I have to admit, it was a little funny. Rocket seemed to think so too, cause he was standing there with a big grin on his face. "Well, that's unfortunate." "Rocket, can you help me?" "What? No, I'm a raccoon, I don't speak cat." "Then who can help me?" "Maybe that black cat over there, who's just calmly sitting there, watching you, probably judging you," Natasha said. "It's their leader," Darcy said. "Don't be ridiculous you two, it's just a cat," Sif told them. "If you say so." 

Thor

It took a fairly long time to get all the cats off me, but eventually I was officially cat free. "Cats are strange creatures." "They are," Sif agreed, "and I wonder why they were all so attracted to you." "Yeah, it's a miracle. Maybe they're all females," Natasha brought up. "What?" Sif asked. "Well... look at him." "I am." "And what do you see?" "Thor." "Okay, good one, I like your attitude, but let's be honest. He looks good." "Maybe." Valkyrie was grinning for no apparent reason. "It's either that or he smells like cat food, or catnip. Yeah, he probably smells like catnip." "That would explain why all the cats seem high now," Clint brought in. "It has been proven, Thor smells like catnip." "I don't!" "Oh no, sniff yourself man." "that's the weirdest thing I ever heard you say, Nat," Steve said with a chuckle. "Shut up and wait for Thor to sniff himself and discover he smells like catnip." "Wow, getting stranger." I sniffed myself, just because I wanted to prove them wrong, but I did smell like catnip. "Huh? How did this happen?" "Let me guess, you smell like catnip?" "Well... yes." "God this is hilarious." "It might explain why the cats licked me... everywhere..." "I don't think we want to know where they licked you," Tony said. "No, you don't." My friends all tried not to laugh. 

"Wait, Thor... there is still a little catnip on your face," Sif suddenly brought up. "Wait a minute... there was actually catnip on me?" "It looks to be dried." "That's... well that's actually disgusting." "It does explain the behavior of the cats. What did you do?" "Nothing, really!" "Then how did you come to be covered in catnip?" "Do I look like I know that?" "Well, clearly not!" "Then why are you asking me?!" "Guys, please stop shouting," Brunnhilde said, "this is supposed to be a happy reunion." "Don't interrupt us!" We both shouted. "Get married already," Natasha mumbled. "What?" Sif said. "Uh," was my own very witty reply. "Wow, look at your faces! This is gold. Shuri, you're recording this right?" "Sure am." "Thanks, she panther." "Ya welcome red devil." "Did they just do nicknames?" Steve asked in surprise." "It's Nat, what do ya think?" "Clint has a point," Tony said. "Can we please just go back to the topic of me being covered in catnip?" "Why? You liked it?" Tony asked me. "No! I just want to know who or what did this!" "I don't think we'll ever figure that out." 

Then suddenly something very strange happened. One of the cats, the black one, the one Darcy had called the leader started to make some weird noise. "Is... is he laughing." "It sounds like it..." "Can cats laugh?" Clint asked. "I've heard of a grinning cat, but never of a laughing cat." "This ain't Wonderland Nat." I turned my back to the cat, "Anyway, I still want to know who did this. So if the person who pulled this prank on me would want to step forward?" And then something even stranger happened. First there was this green light. A faintly familiar green light. Then behind me there was a voice. A very familiar voice... A voice of a person that should have been dead. A voice that filled me with happiness and sadness and anger all at the same time, for it could not be true. This could not be true... But it was. It was true, it was real. The voice behind me was as real as the person behind me was alive. And the voice asked me one question... only one. "Did you miss me, brother?"


	8. Loads of confusion and some s'mores

Loki

I enjoyed all their stunned faces in silence, just for a few seconds. Right before I got tackled by Thor, who wanted to give me a hug. "BROTHER, I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD!" He screamed into my ear. Really Thor? You want me to go deaf or something? "Did you really fall for that little show back there, brother?" I asked him. He looked down at me, stood up and pulled me up with him. "Show? That was a show?" "Well of course it was. You really think I'd attack Thanos with a dagger when I have so much more to offer?" "It was a trick?" I sighed, sometimes Thor could be so easily dumbfounded. "Yes, it was a trick, an illusion." "But, your illusions... people can't touch them..." "Well... it might have been someone who I convinced to pose as me... and... who I enchanted to look like me... Or my illusions have become stronger. You choose which one you'd rather believe." It was the latter, but I w "What?" " Brother, which hand do I write with?" "Your right hand." "And which hand do I usually attack people with?" "Again, your right hand. " "And which hand do my illusions use?" "Their left hand... And "you" attacked Thanos with your left hand. It was an illusion. Which is why "you" didn't revert back into your Jotun form when "you" died." I smiled, "Indeed, you're cleverer than you look brother ." Good thing too. 

"Wait a minute, where's Sam?" the voice of the patriot suddenly sounded from behind Thor. "Sam?" Thor replied as he turned to face the "Captain". "Yes, Sam Wilson, the Falcon." "Let me explain that," I said as I stepped forward. "I might have deleted your memories of him dying and might have posed as him ever since... I switched between that and the cat on the ship of the remaining Asgardians." "You what?" miss Romanoff asked me angrily. "I think my explanation was quite clear Romanoff." "How dare you?" "Well..." "You erase our memories of one of our friends dying and then you pose as him? Is that how you try to win us over?" "Well... that's not what I was thinking of..." "Then what were you thinking?" "That you would have never trusted me if I showed up as myself." "With good reason!" "Natasha!" She sighed and turned to Rogers, "Yes?" "What happened has happened, leave it be. What he did was wrong, but he helped us." "That is true. You really think we wandered into that cave full of that heart shaped herb on accident?" "Are you saying you led us there?" I smiled, "I'm a God, I know a lot. How's your ankle?" "Better than it was...." "Good. Now how about we take this conversation inside?" "That's a very good idea brother." 

Natasha

We all "assembled", as Steve likes to call it, in the Avengers common room. "Now, Loki, please explain yourself," Steve said with his, I'm Captain America, I have a lot of authority, voice. Loki smiled, "Well, it all began so many years ago. In 2012, remember?" "We all remember 2012," Scott said, "what happened in 2012," he added in a whisper. "It was the year Earth was attacked by those damned aliens," I reminded him, "you might not have been there but it was all over the news." "Oh, yeah, that..." "Indeed, it was the year the Chitauri attacked Midgard, with me, brainwashed by Thanos, at their head." "How can we be sure that you were brainwashed?" "You should ask miss Romanoff, she has seen me up close... She might have seen that my eyes were blue." Steve turned to me and I nodded in response. "And what color are they now, Romanoff?" I walked over to him, stood in front of him like so many years ago. "They're green." "Does that remind you of something, or someone, else?" I turned to Clint, his eyes had been the same shade of blue as Loki's had been back then, now they were his natural eye color. I turned back to Loki, "How can we be sure that it wasn't another one of your tricks?" "My dear Romanoff-," Oh really? "-I thought Bruce had already convinced you that I'm not the bad guy." "Bruce doesn't really convince me of anything." "Because he turned you down?" "That is none of your business." "I'm sorry." No you're not. "What I'm saying is, you know who the real enemy is. And it's not me, it's Thanos. I want to help you." "And why is that? Give us one reason to believe you." "Because nobody... Nobody messes with my head!" "You want revenge." "Isn't that what we all want?" 

"You think we can trust him?" Steve asked me some time later. "I'm not sure," I replied. "He wants revenge, we can all see that, but there's still the possibility he might turn on us after." "So, what do you suggest?" "Hey, you're Captain America, you should know what to do." "I haven't been Captain America for two years." "You really think Captain America was the suit? No, it wasn't. Captain America was Steve Rogers and Steve Rogers was, is, Captain America." "Meaning?" "You're still Captain America, deal with it." He sighed, "Well, I guess you're right then... I wish Sam was here." "Me too." The three of us had spent the last two years together, with the occasional visit of Wanda. "Well... at least he's trying, He did give us our memories back... but now it feels like we lost him all over again." I nodded, "It does." "I lost all my best friends." "...Thanks." He looked down at me and smiled, "Sorry..." "What, you overlooked me?" He shrugged, "You're not very tall." "Tall enough to kick you in the nuts." His smile got a little wider, "Please don't. I'm sorry, really." He was. "It's okay. You're still not used to being friends with a woman, even after six years." "That's because they used to overlook me for... more than twenty years." "Yeah, well, you're like huge now, so that won't happen again." "Nat." "Yeah?" "I'm glad to have you as a friend." I looked up at him, he was staring out of the window, looking at god knows what. It was as if he was too shy to tell me to my face. It might have been a little bit cute, but just a little bit. "I'm glad to have you as a friend too." He pulled me in for a sideways hug. I let him, he needed the support... and so did I.

Hours later, in the middle of the night, I was awoken by screams. Screams of fear. I sat up straight and tried to figure out where they came from and who they belonged to. I decided to follow my instinct, which was to follow the sound. I wasn't the only one who was woken up by the screaming, Thor, Tony, Pepper and Rhodey where in the common room too. And Clint entered not much later mumbling, "Why can't I ever sleep in peace?" "Sshhhh," I told him. The screaming came from Steve's room. I opened the door and walked in. "Maybe you should knock, he might be naked," Tony said lazily. "Shut up, Stark." "You won't mind that of course." "Pepper, you're allowed to punch him in the gut." "Ow! Pepper!" I walked over to Steve's bed. He had stopped screaming by now, but he was wriggling frantically while mumbling, "No... Bucky... Sam... No..." "Steve?" I whispered, "Steve, it's okay... it's just a dream..." "No! NO! BUCKY! SAM!" I backed off, just a little, the screaming ha startled me. "Steve, calm down, it's just a dream!" He just kept screaming "Bucky!" and "Sam!" with the occasional "NO!". Eventually I tried to shake him awake. This worked, but I got thrown against the wall as Steve woke up and tried to protect himself from a possible intruder, not knowing it was me. "Ow!" "Natasha?" "Yes." "Did I throw you against the wall?" "...Yes." "Are you okay?" "I'm fine, I think I'll just lay here for a while..." He got out of bed and picked me up, bridal style. "Hmmm, look at that," Tony's voice sounded from the doorway. We both turned our heads to look at him. "Oh no, don't mind me, I mean, Steve, if you were going to kiss her to make her feel better, that would be okay, just act like I'm not here." Two hands grabbed Tony's shoulder and pulled him away, Pepper's head popped into the doorway, "I'm very sorry for his behavior." "It's okay, we're used to it," Steve answered. "That only makes it worse." Pepper closed the door and let us be. 

Steve

I sat Natasha down on my bed. "How's your head," I asked her. "It's fine, it hurts a little, but not so much that it could be a concussion." "You're not dizzy? Sick? You sure you're okay?" She rolled her eyes, "I'm fine Captain Gentleman." "Captain Gentleman?" "You're trying to make sure that I'm okay, you're almost frantic about it." "You do look a little green, you sure you're not a little nauseous?" "Well... maybe a little... No," she shook her head, "I'm fine, don't worry about me." "You say it like I should worry about something else." "Well, I'd like to know what's up with that nightmare of yours." "What?" She patted on the matrass next to her, as if telling em to sit down. I obeyed. "I told you about my nightmare quite some time ago, now it's your turn." I sighed, "Well..." "Don't pull the "It's a long story," on me. I let one corner of my mouth curl slightly upwards for a second, "You know me too well." "I've known you for six years Steve. And I read your file before that." Of course she did. "Good... So you know about the mission on the train, the one where I lost Bucky?" "Yes." "Well... I was there again. But this time... Sam was there too... Almost everything was the same, but Sam and Bucky were covering me, they were helping me, side by side...." "And they both fell..." "And they both fell... side by side... Sam's suit was broken, that's why he wasn't wearing it... he... he lost his own wingman you know? The guy crashed..." "That explains why he reacted the way he did when Rhodes fell out of the sky..." "He saw that?" "Of course he did." "Oh." "You know what I think?" "Of course I don't." "I think that you miss them more than you try to show. You miss them, which is why you dreamed about losing them..." "If I miss them, shouldn't I dream about finding them back?" "Life is cruel Steve..." I sighed, "Yeah, I suppose it is." She got up. "Oh no, you're not going anywhere." She turned to face me, "What?" "Stayed with you, you stay with me, it's only fair," I said as a smile played around my lips. She shrugged and laid down next to me. "Sure. If that's what you want." 

The next morning I woke up to find Natasha's head resting on my chest, one of her arms around me, her hear spread out over her face and one of her legs linked with one of mine. My first reaction was shock, because I had never woken up with a woman at my side, at least, not like this. My second reaction was fascination. Fascination at how she looked when the sunlight hit her hair, how her breath felt against my chest and how her leg brushed against mine as she moved ever so slightly. She was beautiful, even with her hair messed up like that, but she had always been beautiful. I watched as her eyes fluttered open and as she reacted to finding herself entangled with me. "What?" was all she said. "Good morning." "Did... did we sleep like this?" "I think so." "Well... that's... awkward." She said more, but I was lost, lost in my own mind and in her eyes. They shined as the sunlight hit them. It's easy for an artist to get distracted... "Steve?" "Huh, what?" "Were you even listening?" She was trying to untangle herself from me, it took me a few seconds to realize that I had my arms around her. "I uh..." "Can you please let me go?" I did as she asked me, "Sorry... I was... lost in thought." "Clearly." There was a short silence, then "Were they nice?" "Huh?" "Your thoughts, were they nice thoughts?" "Uh... well... yes, kind of." "What were you thinking about?" Oh please no! "Uhm... puppies." "You're a terrible liar." "I'm not lying!" "Steve..." I sighed, "Fine, I'm lying." "I know, you can't lie." "I'm not that bad!" "I'm just way better, at lying and at detecting lies. Now, what were you really thinking about?" "I can't say." "Why not?" It's embarrassing." "This makes me even more curious. You realize that, right?" Of course it does. Teasing little... "I'm sorry, but I can't tell you." 

What happened next happened so fast that my brain had trouble processing it. Suddenly Natasha was on top of me, pinning me to the bed. She smiled down at me, "Are you sure you can't tell me. Or do you just don't want to tell me?" "Would it be a crime if I didn't want to tell you?" "It would wound me," she said feigning hurt. I turned over, pinning her to the bed. "Would it now?" "Not really, but I like where this is going." She had the nerve to smirk. "What?" She laughed, "Oh Steve, you innocent virgin." "Uh." She winked and I turned over again, not taking her with me this time. "Well, that's disappointing." "Shut up." "Oh come on, don't tell me you wouldn't like a little action." "I said, shut up." "Fine." There was a long silence, which lasted until Tony opened the door, "You guys want breakfast?" He was holding up two plates with freshly baked bread with ham and cheese. "Yes, thank you," we both replied. "So, you guys had an entertaining night?" Tony asked with a wink. "Tony..." "Nah, Captain Virgin is still around." "Aw, poor Natasha, have you been refused again?" She shrugged. "Shut up Stark," I told him. "Fine, I'll leave you two to it then." He said as he set the plates down on the dressers and left. "Idiot." Natasha mumbled. "All our friends are idiots," I reminded her. "Everybody's an idiot." 

Tony

"Really, Tony?" I turned to face Pepper. "What?" "Wipe the smile off your face. Was that all necessary?" "Oh come on... They like each other!" Pepper sighed, "I know, but that doesn't mean you should..." "Try to set them up, ask them if they had sex?" "Definitely not that last one!" "Okay, maybe that went a little too far, but they're used to that when it comes to me." "Tony..." "Fine, I'm annoying, I know, but I'm bored!" "Then go do something useful, how about that ant stuff?" "We have enough of that by now. And we're sick of it!" "Then go work on another suit or something!" "Wait, wait what?" "What?" "I thought you hated it when I keep working on suits." "I do, but you got your ass beaten in the last one so you might as well try to improve it because I'm not gonna lose you Tony." "So... I can work on a new suit?" She sighed, "Yes, go wild." I jumped in the air like a kid, then I hugged Pepper and kissed her, "Thank you. SHURI, I GOT A NEW JOB FOR US!" 

Pepper

I watched him go with a smile on my face. "Man, Tony surrounded by tech is like a kid in a candy store huh?" I turned to Natasha, "Yes, it is." "You got a good point though, Tony said that Thanos could easily rip tear his suit apart, so he does need a new one. Now that he's here he might even use vibranium." "He would probably still paint it red and gold though." "Well, he likes it, who are we to judge him?" "His fiancée and one of his friends." She shrugged, "True. So, you ready for training?" I yawned, "Have you already eaten your breakfast?" "Well, yes..." "How fast do you eat?" "Fast enough." "That makes no sense." "Neither does the aspect of time." "What?" "You've had breakfast yes?" "Yes." "Let's go then!" 

Natasha practically dragged me over to the training room, where Okoye and Shuri, who was avoiding Tony right now and who had joined the training for some reason, were waiting for us. "So, what you got in store for us today Okoye?" Natasha asked her. Okoye just smiled at us and said, "You'll see." 

In reality, we didn't see... at all. She blindfolded us to train our hearing, than gave us a spear and started to hammer in on us with her own spear. Natasha could hold her off the longest. Even longer than Shuri, who had advanced strength now, she didn't have as much training as Natasha, which was probably why she was there. 

At the end of the training we blindfolded Okoye and tried to hammer in on her with our spears... Natasha gave her some good beatings, but that was about it... and when we took the blindfold off of her face all she said was, "You still got a lot to learn." 

After training we had lunch, just the four of us and after that Shuri went to look for Tony and Okoye, who had been playing her bodyguard since the coronation, followed her. Which left me and Natasha all alone in the common room. The guys were probably still training. 

"So... How are you and Tony doing?" Natasha asked. "We're fine." "Good." "Yeah, that's good." "Can I ask you something?" "You just did." She rolled her eyes, "Really Pep?" I smiled, "What would you like to ask me?" "How do you know when you... you know... when you're in love?" "Ooooooh," My voice rose slightly. "Is that what this is about?" "Maybe, I don't know." "Is this about last night?" "Well I woke up with my head on his chest and he was staring at me with those blue eyes of his and it made me all warm and fuzzy on the inside." I smiled at her. "What?" "You like him." "Maybe, that's what I'm trying to figure out." "Stop trying, you figured it out already." She sighed, "Oh god. Does this have to happen now? Why does this always happen when we're about to face something that could kill us?" I shrugged, "Maybe because it's moments like this that we realize that we don't have the time of the world and that we should act on our feelings." "That makes sense, but-," "Don't even try to tell me that you haven't had feelings for Steve before. I'm sure you don't even believe it yourself." "Well..." "Natasha." "Okay, fine. Back in 2014, when I knew that I wasn't what he needed back then." "Seriously?" "And then there was Bruce... I really have no idea how that happened. And he turned me down and I realized that I-," "That you still had feelings for Rogers?" "Yes, but he had a crush on his dead ex's grandniece or something, which is still gross." "True." "And now we've spent two years together, with Sam, yes, but... God why do I have feelings? Life would be so much easier without feelings." "That is very true." "Thanks for agreeing with me." "You're welcome. So, you're going to tell Steve?" "No." "What?" "It'll only make him lose his focus! I'm just going to try to forget about this. I can hide it anyway. We need to focus Pepper, we can't have this right now." "Tony and I are in a relationship!" "I know, but... You might be getting training, but you're not going to fight with us, you know that, I know that, we all know that. Tony wouldn't risk it. At least one of you is going to survive... Tony will be out there to protect you." "You can protect each other!" "That's the problem, we'd protect each other, then one of us gets wounded and possibly dies, and the other gets... well reckless because that's just human nature. That is if he feels the same for me." "You're just scared to show your emotions..." "I'm... not." "Yes you are." "Maybe, so what?" "Don't you think you deserve to be happy?" "After everything I did? I doubt it. And Steve deserves more than what I can give him..." 

Darcy

While everybody was off doing stuff, I was being a couch potato and keeping an eye on the news. There was still a lot of chaos on it. Especially since the president of the United States had disappeared, together with some other country leaders. One leader who had not disappeared was the Queen of England. "Why is that country led by such an old woman?" Nebula asked me when she saw her on TV. "Because she refuses to give up the Throne until she dies." "Wouldn't she much rather have some peace and quiet?" "Don't know, I think she likes being in power." "It's surprising that the snap didn't erase her." "Not really, I mean, it's Queen Elizabeth, by now I'm pretty sure nothing can kill her, I'm almost starting to think that she's immortal." "Because she's so old?" "Yup." 

It was a little weird to talk to an alien, but I got used to it... after like, ten minutes. I mean, I've met God's, how much stranger is an alien? The raccoon on the other hand was a little weirder, not much, just a little. He was however easier to get used to, because of all the cartoons I watched as a kid, a lot of cartoons have talking animals. It's weird actually, showing kids talking animals while in reality animals can't talk. Not even parrots, they just mimic the sounds we make. Maybe this is one of the reasons why society fucked up. Because we make children believe in impossible things. 

"What are you doing?" Nebula asked me a while later as she came back from whatever it was that she had been doing. "I'm sitting upside-down on the couch." "Why?" "Because I'm bored." "Then you go do something." "I wanna do something, but I don't know what. I mean, it's not really like I'm of any use to anyone here." "What?" "Oh please... I'm kinda useless. I'm a scientist, but not the kind of scientist y'all are looking for. I studied political science, it's different. And... I might know some real science because of Jane, but it's probably not enough. I'm only here because Brunnhilde convinced me to lead the way to Wakanda." "So you feel useless?" "Yes." "Then maybe you should join the secret training." "Secret training?" "Natasha and Okoye are training Pepper... in secret. I join them sometimes, maybe you should join them too. You could become a fighter." "Well... maybe." "Just consider it." "Okay." And off was the alien. 

"You do look very bored," a voice sounded behind me. "What's the matter?" "I am bored." "And why is that?" "I got nothing to do." "Is that so?" "Yup." "I have heard that you're pretty smart. In your own way." "Hah, in my own way, people think I'm stupid." "They tend to do that yes, because your behavior isn't always that serious." "They just think I'm stupid because I'm not as smart as Jane. And most people met me when I worked for Jane." "I understand that feeling. People always think my brother is better than me, while I'm obviously smarter. Sometimes I'm not even sure if he knows how a book works." "He's not that stupid." "Maybe not." "So you're secretly alive again huh?" "Again?" "Thor told me about the other two times. You really had to fake your death three times?" I looked at him for the first time during this whole conversation. He shrugged, "It spared me a lot of trouble." "It hurt your family though." "As if they cared about me." "Are you kidding? Thor had a strand of your hair braided into his own hair. It was weird." "Wait, he had?" "Yeah, I still wonder how he got it." Loki looked at me in confusion. "You do realize that your brother actually cares about you, right?" "Of course I do, I just... didn't know how much. Also, Nebula is right, you should join that training if you feel useless. Or, if you feel like it, you can come and help me and the teens with pulling pranks on the rest." "What?" "God of Mischief," he said as he disappeared into nothing. 

Bruce

Tony, Shuri, Harley and I were working on a design for a new suit when Darcy walked in. "Hey guys," she said. What are you all doing here?" "We're working on a suit," Tony told her. "Cool, can I see?" "Sure," Tony seemed to like her curiosity. Tony pretty much likes anyone who's interested in his tech. But only if they're interested in a good way. Not in a bad way, like a, "That sui is awesome, I'm gonna steal it" way. She walked over and stood next to me to look at the blue print of the helmet. "That looks pretty cool and all... but... wouldn't you need something to communicate with the others?" "What?" Tony asked. "Yeah, I thought you always communicated over a com right? You forgot to put it in in the blueprint." I looked at her in surprise, then I looked at the blueprints. "She's right Tony, we forgot the com. Thank you Darcy." "You're welcome." 

Not much later Steve walked in, "Guys, it's time for dinner, Rhodey found a barbecue, Pepper and Nat got some meat from... well I have no idea where because a lot of the people here are vegetarians. "Not all of us though," Shuri said. "Anyway, there'll be a lot of roasted vegetables for those who are... and of course for those who aren't if they feel like it. I stretched myself and yawned, "Sounds good, I haven't had barbecued meat in ages." "A very manly meal, with lots of meat and things," Tony said with a voice that was deeper than his usual voice. Shuri and Harley laughed at him. Steve rolled his eyes at him. Tony turned to me, "What do you say, my fellow manly man, do you accept this meal." "Tony..." "Too much?" We all nodded and Darcy told him, "Yeah." He shrugged, "Alright then." 

The barbecue was a lot of fun. I talked with pretty much everyone there, even with the kids, who somehow loved to hear my stories about the Hulk. They laughed when I told them about how I beat Thor back on Sakaar. They all turned to Thor and pointed at him. Thor smiled at them like the big goofy idiot that he is, they loved that too. 

Eventually it became dark, and we switched from a barbecue to a campfire and from meat and vegetables to marshmallows and s'mores. Thor told us stories of his home world, together with Sif and even Loki joined in from time to time. They told us of "epic battles" as Thor liked to call them, and the wars they waged upon other planets, to keep the peace. Meanwhile the children tried to convince Loki to show us some of his magic tricks. He wouldn't budge at first, but eventually he showed us a few tricks. One of these tricks was changing the color of the fire, and eventually he even showed images of the stories Thor told in the fire. 

After that we sang campfire songs. All the classics, and some much older ones that Steve had taught us. The Asgardians looked at us with confusion, as if they had never heard of campfire songs. "It's a tradition," I told them. "Maybe it's a little bit strange, but it happens here." "Like the s'mores?" "Well, the s'mores aren't really tradition." "But the singing is?" "Sort of. I'm sure you have strange traditions too." They looked at each other, mumbled something amongst themselves and smiled. "Yes, we do. And we like your tradition of singing. Midgardians are much more interesting than we thought." "I suppose we should take that as a complement?" "You can take it however you wish to take it." "You know that I think?" I asked them. "Well?" "I think that we might be able to learn a lot from each other." "I think you're right in that, Bruce," Sif replied. 

Gamora

Countless days had passed, countless nights had passed. It already felt like an eternity. The orange hue of the sky was driving me crazy. I wished it would change but it never did. It was as if time was standing still, or more as if it didn't even exist. It scared me to be in a place where time didn't even exist. It scared me even more than the prospect of death... Then again, the prospect of death had never really scared me. 

The scariest where the voices though. Countless voices. They whispered, they cried, they screamed in agony. Some of them sounded familiar... Some of them sounded like my friends. But it couldn't be. I couldn't believe it, I didn't want to believe it. They couldn't be here, they couldn't be dead. Not my friends. Not the people I tried to protect, the people I would have given my life for... It meant my attempted sacrifice would have been for nothing and I couldn't handle that. It might sound stupid, but I just couldn't. I wanted them to be safe. I wanted them to have the time to mourn me and to move on... Then again, how could they possibly have known about what happened to me? Do they know that I'm dead? How would Peter take it? Peter... the thought of him was the only thing that kept me sane as I was locked up there in that stupid stone. How I wish I could see him again, just one more time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... I have decided that maybe I'll change the text a little one day... you know... so you have bold text and stuff to make it all easier to read and all... but... not today... cause I'm too lazy now and school's too busy so... maybe in a few months   
> ~Moonwolf


	9. Captain Can't Dance

Clint

It was weeks after Loki's sudden appearance when finally something interesting happened again. This "something interesting" being the fourth of July. Granted we might have been in Wakanda, so we couldn't really celebrate Independence day, but it was still Steve's birthday. And a special one for sure. Of course we made a lot of arrangements beforehand, we even tried to get rid of all the cats in the Avengers common room. I mean, they were everywhere. Once when Natasha went out for a late night snack she got attacked by one that was hiding itself in the fridge... Well... it only jumped on her, but that's not the point, it was in the fridge. To this day I still don't know how it got there. 

Anyway, the preparations, it was the second of July and we were checking if we had everything. A bigass cake, one hundred candles to go on the cake. Star spangled plastic party flags, a huge stuffed eagle. A music playlist that started with The Star-Spangled Banner. This playlist was made by Natasha and this particular version of The Star-Spangled Banner was sung by Lady Gaga, don't ask me why. Furthermore there was this song called: Star-Spangled Man with a plan on it. This to the amusement of Tony. "God that song is old," he said. "My father told me about it once. It was a song that Steve's choir girls used to perform during his shows. He even showed me some footage of that... Steve wore tights." "Steve in tights?" Natasha asked him with a smile playing around her lips. "Yup. The mighty Captain America started his career wearing tights." We all had a good chuckle over that. "We got everything?" I asked. "Yeah, I suppose," Bruce answered. "Good." "No, wait, we don't have milk and cookies," Thor replied. "We'll bake those cookies on the morning of the big day, they're best when they're fresh," Natasha told him. "And we got milk in the fridge," I said. "Like... loads of milk." "I have another idea," Tony said. "Bring it up genius," I said. "Well, look at this," he said as he pushed on a button on his watch. "I updated this thing and I can access the internet with it. I found some footage of Steve's career as chorus girl." He showed us the footage. "And your point is?" I asked. "Well, Mr. Barton, I'd like you to wear one of those costumes the girls are wearing," he replied half sarcastically half teasing. "Nah, don't think I got the legs for it." "I think your legs look great," Nat assured me. "Yours look better." "And that's where I was actually going," Tony said. "You want me to wear one of those costumes?" "Just imagine Steve's reaction. And... well... maybe some of the other women would like to join in too." "That depends on it," Shuri said. Where did she suddenly come from? "Would it annoy him?" "Hmmm, mildly," Tony said. "Then I might consider it, if Nat does it of course." Natasha rolled her eyes, "Fine, but I'm dragging Pepper into this too." "What," was all Pepper could say before Tony said, "Wonderful." And that's how at the end of the day we were doing our best to recreate those costumes. This is also how we found out that Thor is surprisingly good at sowing. 

We made six costumes in total, one for Natasha, one for Pepper and one for Shuri who eventually agreed on joining in, just to annoy Steve. The other three were for Sif, who thought it would be fun, Brunnhilde, who might have been drunk when she agreed to join the others and for Darcy, who seemed to be pretty excited about it all. The costumes were finished at around ten p.m. and the girls had to try them on immediately. Of course there was a lot of clapping and whistling, even from Harley, the seventeen year old kid. Nat took it all as a complement and made a little show of it. Sif seemed to like it a lot too. Darcy was just having fun, Shuri bowed when we clapped, Brunnhilde gave us a courtesy and Pepper looked annoyed and a little uncomfortable. "He's either going to love this, or be annoyed," Tony said during the "show". "What about I'll try to make him blush like maid, this skirt is short enough to be suggestive," Natasha brought up. "Have fun trying to make Captain Virgin blush Nat, I'd like to see you try," Tony told her. "I'm sure all guys here would like to see her try," I brought up. "Shut up Clint, you're just jealous that I'm hotter than you." "Well excuse me? I happen to be fabulous, do you hear me? Fabulous, Natasha!" She smiled at that, "Sorry, I forgot about that." "How can you? You've even seen me naked!" "That's enough, Clint." "It's Hawkeye the Fabulous for you!" She sighed, "That's enough, Hawkeye the Fabulous." "That's more like it." "Moron," she mumbled. "I know you love me!" I heard Tony sigh next to me, "You two are the weirdest friend duo I ever met." We both replied with, "Thanks." 

Steve

All of my friends had been acting strange for days. Like, they were all huddled together into a group, talking, but when I entered the room they all stopped talking. It was as if they were hiding something, but I couldn't put my finger on it. Probably because I hadn't been keeping an eye on the calendar. 

It was the morning of the third of July and I was awoken by the sound of a purring cat. "What?" I mumbled. "Meow," the cat, who was practically lying next to my head, replied and she resumed her purring. It was a ragdoll cat, long haired cream colored with a brown face, ears, paws and tip of her tail. Her eyes were blue as sapphires. Not that any of that mattered, what really mattered was: How the hell did that cat get in my room? "How did you get here?" I asked her as I petted her. "Mrowr." "You sneaked in, huh? Didn't you?" "Meow." "You were looking for a comfortable place to sleep I suppose?" "Mrrrow." "Yeah, I get that." "Charming." "What the?" I turned towards the door, where Nat was smiling at me. "Got yourself a girlfriend, Steve?" I looked at the cat, then back at Nat with a smile, "Jealous?" "Very," she replied sarcastically. "How about you get up, sergeant, I've decided to train with you today." "And I have decided to call of training." "Good, that'll make it just the two of us," she winked and walked off. "Well, I suppose I don't have a choice then." "Meow." 

I found Natasha in the training room after breakfast. "So you finally decided to show up huh?" "Hi to you too. I had breakfast first, didn't you?" "I already had breakfast before I went to your room to wake you up." "Pity my new girlfriend already woke me up, huh?" "Heartbreakingly sad." "So, what you wanna do here?" "Well, train." I nodded, "Let's train then." 

We trained together for at least three hours, taking short breaks between exercises. "Man, how do all of the others keep up with you?" Natasha eventually asked me. I shrugged, "I don't know. It's easy enough for Bucky..." "Yeah, but he's another super soldier, so that doesn't really count, now does it?" "Maybe not," I admitted. "Maybe?" "Okay, fine, it doesn't count." "Indeed it doesn't." "So... you wanna go have lunch?" "That sounds great yeah." "And coffee?" "Well, duh." "Let's go then." "That's the best ide you've had today." "Hey, this training was your idea." "True enough." "Why?" "Why what?" "Why did you want to train with me?" "Can't I just train with my friend for once?" "I thought you hated it." "When you played a drill sergeant yes, your normal training was always good. It lasts long yes, but it's good." I didn't really believe it. I suspected there to be more, but I kept my mouth shut. I was certain she knew I didn't believe her, but she said nothing more about it. It was normal for Nat to keep her secrets, nobody questioned it anymore. 

We showered, got dressed and went to get lunch. There was nobody else in the Avengers common room. Not even Rocket, who usually hung around on the windowsill. "Huh, strange." "What's so strange?" "Everybody is gone." "That is strange." "You hadn't noticed yet?" "Of course I have." "You just chose not to mention it." "Well, we got up pretty early. Last night I heard the others talk about going on a hike or something." "I guess we got the common room for ourselves then." "Yeah, I guess we do." "So... is there anything you want to do?" "Not really no. You?" I shrugged, "Can't think of something right now. But I know that I don't really feel like being alone." "Yeah, me neither." "We could watch a movie or something," I suggested. "Yeah, that sounds like fun." "You know a good movie?" "Have you ever seen Mamma Mia?" "Uh, no... What kind of movie is it?" "Ah musical, lots of singing and dancing. Weird, I know, musicals never really make sense, but this one's pretty good because all the songs are ABBA songs." "Aha..." "You have never heard of ABBA, have you?" "Can't say I have." "Sometimes it's so easy to forget that you're actually an old man who's been frozen for a few years." "A few?" She rolled her eyes, "Almost seventy years." "That's not a few." "You could have been stuck for centuries, compared to that it's just a few years." "That's true, but I have to say, I'm glad they thawed me out when they did." "And why's that?" "Because I have some good friends now... friends who feel like family to me... and if it had been later.... Peggy would have been dead... Bucky might have been dead too..." "Yeah... but what if they had found you earlier?" "Then I would have never met the Avengers... or I would have been old when I did. That would have been a pity." "Well, if you say so." "I say so." 

After lunch we decided to watch the movie Natasha suggested. I have to say, I enjoyed it. The music made me want to get up and dance, the only problem was, of course, that I can't dance. During the movie I send Nat some sideways glances. She was silently mouthing along to the music, tapping her foot and stroking the cat that was on her lap, aka my new girlfriend. She caught me once, looked down at the cat and smirked, "Jealous?" she asked. "Very," I replied. But it wasn't Natasha that I was jealous of. 

The movie ended with the actors singing two more ABBA songs. I knew that one of the actresses was Meryl Streep. Natasha told me one of the others was Julie Walters. "She portrayed Molly Weasley in the Harry Potter movies," she said. "That's why her voice sounded so familiar." One of the actors looked suspiciously like a very renown scientist, Dr. Erik Selvig, a friend of Thor. I chose not to mention that. I also chose not to mention that the daughter's boyfriend looked like Howard Stark, maybe a bit younger, but he did definitely look like him. "So, who's plays the daughter?" "Amanda Seyfried." "Have I seen her before?" "Have I ever showed you Mean Girls?" "Don't think so..." "Oh well, you might have seen her in another movie of course. Mean Girls is just... a very well-known movie." "Sounds like a movie for teenage girls." "It is, but it's still quite funny." 

"You know what?" "Of course not." "Sometimes," I began, "when I look at those people dancing... I wish I could dance too." "You can't dance?" she asked me, the amusement clear in her voice. "I never learned how to." "Why not?" "Well... I didn't see why I should learn to. Girls don't really like to dance with a guy they might step on." "They'd have a hard time stepping on you now though." "Yeah, I guess so." "Maybe you should look for someone who's willing to teach you." "Maybe yes." There was a long silence, which I broke by saying, "I heard you're quite the dancer." "You heard right." "You're very humble too." She shrugged, "Why deny the truth?" I decided not to answer that and asked her, "Are you willing to teach me?" instead. "The Black Widow teaching Captain America how to dance? Sounds like the beginning of a bad joke. Yeah, I'm in for it." "Wanna start now?" She shrugged, "Well, everybody is gone anyway, so why not?" 

Natasha

We shoved everything against the walls to make some space. "I suppose you wanna start easy." "Sounds like an idea yeah." "Could you get my Bluetooth speaker for me?" I asked him, "It's under my bed, right corner, head side." "Sure," he said and walked off. He came back not much later with my speaker. I connected my phone to it and scrolled through my playlists. "We should start slow." Of course, all I could find for that were love songs. Well, this is going to be awkward. I eventually settled on "Someone Like You" by Adele. "Hey, I know this song," Steve said. "Congratulations gramps." 

I put the song on repeat and showed Steve some easy dancing steps. We practiced those over and over until he became pretty good. To be honest, he learned pretty fast. So I kept making it more and more complicated. Sometimes Steve sang along to the song, sometimes he kept silent and just... stared at me. Eventually he mastered the easy choreography, so I decided to teach him something a little more complicated, so I looked for another song. I settled with another Adele song, "Set Fire to the Rain". "Hey, this is the same singer right?" "It is." "Adele?" "Uhu." This time I sang along to the music as we practiced. "You're a good singer too," he said after some time. "Not as good as Adele." "But you're good. I like it." "Thanks." 

"You learn quickly," I told him after a few hours had passed. "Do I?" "You do." "Must be the serum." "Or you're just born to be a dancer." "Oh no, you have found my secret calling!" I chuckled, he smiled. "Hey, Nat?" "Yeah." "In movies, sometimes they dance... you know, very close to each other..." "Uhu..." "You think you could teach me how to do that?" "Well, that's not hard." "Isn't it?" "It's easy, really." "Can you show me?" "Yeah, sure." This is fiiiine... "Place your arms here." "Around your waist?" "No, on my head, yes, around my waist!" You stupid little innocent idiot. I placed my arms around his neck, resting on his shoulders. "So, what now?" "Now we dance." 

I explained it to him, and showed it to him, while "But We Lost It" by P!nk was playing. We danced like this for a while. To be honest, I have no idea for how long. I know that after a while I was lost in his blue eyes. He seemed to be lost in mine too... He just smiled at me and he even rested his forehead against mine. I didn't mind, not at all. 

"I like this," he whispered. "Well... a lot of men do, you know, being so close to a woman as they dance." "Not that?" "Then what?" "Dancing with you. Do you have any idea how gracefully you move?" I shrugged, "My training." "It makes me want to draw you while you're dancing." "I suppose I should take that as a complement?" "It means I think you look beautiful while you're dancing. I mean, you always look beautiful of course, but... you look... uh... the dancing. It just brings in this extra element of beauty." "Aha, you know what I'm thinking?" "What?" "That you just want more dancing lessons." "Oh, believe me, I do." He sounded eager. 

"Steve, can I ask you something?" I asked him. "Of course you can." "Why did you never ask anybody else to teach you how to dance?" "Well... I have my reasons. I was waiting for something." "For what?" There was a silence, except for the music of course, he looked lost in thought. "Steve?" "Huh?" "What were you waiting for?" "Oh, you know... something. You got more songs?" "Yeah, of course," I took my phone out of my pocket and looked for the list of slow love songs. Yeah, I have a list of slow love songs. Or... relatively slow love songs... or more relatively slow songs, anyway, that's the list I chose. 

The first song that played over the speaker was "Heart by Heart" by Demi Lovato. Okay, yeah, so that's a love song, like for real. Steve didn't seem to mind though. He was eager to dance with me again. I showed him some more moves and I have to say, he was pretty good, for someone who had never danced before. 

Some songs on the list were really good for slow dancing, others required a little more action, but nothing was really above Steve's level. "Huh, I've never heard this song before," he said at one point. "Could be, it's from a Dutch music artist." "A Dutch musician?" "Yeah, the Dutch have singers too you know? Not all of them spend their days eating cheese and smoking weed while wearing those ridiculous wooden shoes." "That's not what I thought at all." "Do you know that the TV show "The Voice" was actually started by the Dutch? They call it "The Voice of Holland" there." "I can't say I did." "Well, you know now." "And... is that somehow connected to the singer of this song?" I nodded, "Yes, her name is Ilse DeLange, she was once a coach on the show." "How do you know that?" I shrugged, "I've been in many places. I also know that she once competed in the Eurovision song contest, with another singer who calls himself Waylon. They called themselves the Common Linnets. They became second." "And what year was that?" "2014." "Ah... I still remember that year." "Yeah, so do I... Not easy to forget another year in which I got shot." "Yeah... that happened too..." His thumb bushed over my shoulder as he said that, right over my scar. 

We danced for what felt like hours, and it might have been true, for it was a very long playlist, and I know which song was at the end and suddenly I heard that song and... well... If the first one was a real "love" love song, this one might have been even worse. The song itself was good of course... but, like, a real "real love" love song or something. The song in question was, "Love me like you do" by Ellie Goulding. "Wow," I said as I heard the first few notes of the song. "What?" "We just danced through forty-seven songs..." "What?" "Look outside..." "It's dark." "It is." "Let's not waste this last song though." "Sounds like a good idea. You really became a lot better you know?" "I have a good teacher." "Thanks..." He sighed, "Is something wrong?" "No, I just wished every day could be like this..." "Why?" "Because... well... I had a lot of fun... And..." He seemed lost for words. "Steve?" He stayed silent, then, as the song ended he kissed me on the nose and walked off. I just stood there, staring after him. 

"Well, that was sweet," Pepper said. I turned to face her, "How long have you been standing there?" "Long enough. Long enough to hear the... last three songs. You're a pretty good dancer by the way." "You have been standing here for like... ten to fifteen minutes?!" She shrugged, "I didn't want to interrupt." "Where are the others?" "Tony is showing off his new suit." "And they're all watching." "They are." "And you... weren't interested?" "Not really, and a little tired..." "But not too tired to just stand there and watch us." "Indeed not. And you two were really cute together." "Shut up Virginia." She just smiled at me. "And wipe that smile off your face." "Don't you see it Natasha?" "See what?" "That he likes you too." "Wha... No, I happened to miss that..." How blind do you think I am? "He kissed you." "On my nose." "Oh please... You should have gone after him..." "And you and Tony should have gotten married years ago." "What does that have to do with this?" "Nothing, but it's as annoying as I could come up with right now." "Nat... I'm just trying to push you into this because I know it'll make you happy." "Yeah, and I'm not ready for this, okay?" Pepper sighed, then she nodded, "Okay." "Thanks." 

Rocket

The day was coming to an end as we finally reached the castle again. It had been a long day, but it had been a nice day too. It was hot, yeah, but the trees provided shadow as we walked. Shuri and Harley were at the very front of our hiking group, they were joking and laughing and filming for some reason. Tony was behind them, laughing at their jokes and making some stupid jokes himself. I was walking close to the center, next to this Hawkeye guy and behind Nebula. 

"So, why do they call you Hawkeye?" I asked him at one point during our hike. He looked down at me with a smile, "Because I have very good eyes, but if you wanna start a conversation with me you better hop on my shoulder, my hearing isn't that good." "Ah," I jumped on his shoulder, well, more on his back. "So... you got hearing aids I see." "Yup, my hearing isn't that good, so my sight got... well... better." "And that's why they call you Hawkeye?" "They call me Hawkeye because I see better from a distance." "Interesting." "I like to sit up high, watch out over... well... whatever I can watch out over. I like to watch out over cities... Or forests..." "That's why you like to stand in front of the window huh?" "Yeah, but on the other hand I also like to sit on the couch, to do nothing, you know?" "Maybe we should set the couch a little closer to the window." "Yeah, maybe." 

I talked with Clint for a while longer, then I jumped from his shoulder onto Nebula's back. "What do you want, fox?" "How many more times do I have to tell you that I'm not a fox?" "Then what are you?" "I am what I am. I'm not definable. I was a raccoon once, but not anymore." "Well forgive me my mistake," she said sarcastically. "What if I don't feel very forgiving today?" "That would be the worst thing that could happen to me, oh no, Rocket, please forgive me." "Did you practice all that sarcasm?" "Nah, it's natural." "Wow. You know, usually sarcastic people are kinda funny." "and I'm not." "Not really no. You're all dark and creepy." "Maybe I like dark and creepy." "I don't doubt that." "Good. Now what do you want." "Honsetly? I just wanna be... you know... close to someone... who... you know... these humies are kinda boring okay? I wanna be closer to someone from "space". Does that make sense?" "Maybe a little." 

Nebula

Of course it made sense. He missed his friends, I understood that. I might not have had friends myself, except for Gamora, and I missed her dearly. So, yes, I understood that he missed his friends. I understood that he wanted to be close to someone who knew them, even though that was me and even though he probably didn't like me. We were both from someplace different. We had both seen more planets than all those Terrans together and we were both strangers to this planet, like this planet was a stranger to us. Somehow having him close was like some strange form of reassurance... Reassurance that we would really get revenge... Because that was still the plan... Of course there was going to be a birthday party first. We all needed the distraction... But revenge would come. And I hoped I'd be the one to kill Thanos...

After the long hike, Tony had to show off his new vibranium suit. It hadn't been painted yet, but he told everyone it was going to be red and gold, just like most of his previous suits. 

"Could you make me one too? A vibranium War-Machine?" Rhodey asked him. Tony looked at Shuri, "What do you think? Can we do that?" "Of course, of course I could also fix his spine first." "You can what?" "I can fix his spine." Great, the human can be fixed... "Why didn't you tell us that before?" "I thought you already knew..." "Well, we didn't." "Anyway... if you want me to fix his spine..." "Of course we want that," Rhodey said. "And if he doesn't then I certainly do!" Shuri smiled, "I thought so." 

After that was settled Shuri came to talk to me, "You know, I can fix more than just spines." "And what of it?" "Well, I can't regrow your limbs... but... if you want to I could make a metal skeleton arm and... I have studied Vision, I think I can recreate the synthetic skin that has been used to create him... your arm would look normal." "It... it would?" "Yes, but only if you want me to of course." I nodded, "I'll think about it." "If you don't want it I could still make you a vibranium arm." This kid is actually pretty nice... Maybe I should stop always sulking around in a corner and interact with these people a little more... just a little. "Thank you... Queen Shuri. I'll think about it." Why think about it? Because I've been like this for years... I've been in pain for years... maybe... maybe she could make that easier too. "Shuri?" "Yes?" "Thanos, what he did to me, it still pains me every single day." "You want to know if I can ease your pain?" "I nodded." "I'm not sure, but I can try." "Thank you." She smiled, "You're welcome." 

Steve

God that was stupid! I should have just told her! I shouldn't have walked away, not like that! What would she be thinking? Why did I even do that? What was I thinking? Of course I knew what I was thinking. I was caught up in the moment and the song and Natasha... she looked amazing... and she was so close. And... the moonlight... it lit her up softly... it was as if she glowed... You should have told her. I was afraid she didn't feel the same... I knew she had been in love with Bruce once... I was almost sure she still had some feelings for her. And the timing, the timing was terrible. I mean, we were quite likely facing certain death. That's not really the right time to fall in love with someone, much less tell that person. And I didn't even know what she felt for me. She probably only sees me as a friend... I thought of hat she had asked me... "Why did you never ask anybody else to teach you how to dance?" I told her, why: "Well... I have my reasons. I was waiting for something." "For what?" She had asked me. It had sparked a memory... A memory of a conversation quite like this one. With a woman... a woman who was strong and beautiful... a woman who knew what she wanted, a woman who I admired... A woman who Natasha resembled in many ways... Peggy. 

We were in a car, talking. I was... awkward. I told her about the places I got beat up in... Yeah, I was very awkward. "Did you have something against running away?" She asked me. I shook my head, which was attached to the old me, the little me. God I was skinny back then. "You start running, they'll never let you stop," I told her. "You stand up, push back. You can't say know forever right?" "I know little of what that's like, to have every door shut in your face," she replied. "I guess I just don't know why you'd wanna join the army if you're a beautiful dame, or, a beautiful woman. An agent, not a dame. You are beautiful but..." "You have no idea how to talk to a woman, do you?" "I think this is the longest conversation I've had with one. Women aren't exactly lining up to dance with a guy they might step on," I told her. They weren't, and I was a guy they'd step on for sure. "You must have danced." "Well, asking a woman to dance always seems so terrifying. And the past few years it just... didn't seem to matter that much. Figured I'd wait." "For what?" "The right partner." That's what I'd told her... what I hadn't told Natasha... And I wondered. Is she? Is Natasha the right partner? I still remember Peggy's smile after I'd said that. I might not have been facing her, but I was watching her from out of the corners of my eyes. It was hard for me to keep my eyes off her. I mean, I called her a beautiful dame. Natasha, she's beautiful too... and like Peggy in so many unexpected ways... Even more so than Sharon. But is that a good thing or a bad thing? 

I decided to go to bed. I didn't want to think of what had happened, but at the same time I did want to think of what had happened. We had had a great time... but the end... it was awkward. I chuckled, I really do get a little awkward around the women that I like. I admire them too... I admired Peggy, I admire Natasha... I also admire Wanda, but for different reasons... She's strong and fierce and sometimes she seems as fearless as Natasha. I admired Sharon too, for a while, but she just... wasn't what I was looking for. Her great-aunt was... once. And maybe, if they had found me sooner... in 1945 or something, maybe a few years later... maybe Peggy and I would have had a chance. I allowed myself some time to imagine what that would have been like. Peggy and I, the older me, the one who wanted to settle down, who wanted a family... I changed in the ice, the loss of my friends changed me. I was a different man when they thawed me out. Or partly a different man. I mean, it's not like I suddenly wanted to take over the world or something... But, I didn't want to settle down and start a family anymore... But what did I want? What do I want?


	10. Who's strong and brave here to save the American way?

Loki

As I stepped into the "Avengers" common room I discovered that the room was all draped in red and blue cloths covered with white stars. "Congratulations people, you all overdid it," I whispered as I walked over to this silly thing the Midgardians called a fridge to get myself some food out of it. Okay, maybe it wasn't that silly, because it keeps your food and drinks cold, but fridge is quite a stupid word. Why not just call it a cooler, because it cools your food... Midgardians... 

"Good morning brother," Thor greeted me as I turned around with an apple in my hand. "Good morning." "Do you like the decorations?" "It's a bit much, but I already told you guys that before you put it up." "You did, but it's Tony's idea, and it's almost impossible to argue with him once he's set his mind to something." "I do believe that's true." "It was even harder just eight years back," Natasha, who seemed to pop up out of nowhere, brought up. The only human that can possibly catch me unawares. "Was he?" She nodded, "He was dying, and he still kept going, didn't tell anybody about it... And he turned reckless. Joining in a formula 1 race and all." "How about we don't talk about that anymore?" Tony said as he walked in. "Why? Because you got attacked by a Russian guy with an obsession for cockatoos?" "Obsession for cockatoos?" "I hacked into Hammer's security cameras... He had something with this cockatoo." "What is a cockatoo?" Thor asked. "It's a bird brother," I told him. "A bird you say?" "Yes, a bird." Sometimes he's as dumb as he looks. 

Had I already mentioned that we were all required to get up early in the morning so we could surprise "Captain America, god's righteous idiot"? No? Well, we did. We had to get up somewhere around 6 a.m. which was quite unfortunate for some. Especially the youngest amongst us didn't really like it. Shuri complained that a Queen shouldn't be commanded by others, but she did change into the silly costume they made for her two days before when they told her to. I have to admit that it was pleasing to see the women like that, but I wasn't really attracted to one of them. Out of all of them, Sif was the best looking, but that's just because she's a Goddess of course, so that doesn't really count. And she has a crush on my brother... 

"Okay guys, time to get into your positions!" Tony called out right before the clock struck half past six. It was the time Steve's alarm was set to go off, Tony was certain of it. The ladies in their costumes hid in Natasha's room to do Odin knows what. I'm almost certain they had breakfast there. 

Then the alarm clock went off, Steve got out of his bed and the door opened. That's when the music started. Tony, Natasha and the raccoon had put together what they call a playlist, which started with the American anthem, a song they called The Star-Spangled Banner. Steve looked as dumbstruck as a human can possibly look. Which is very dumbstruck. He looked quite stupid, so stupid that it was almost funny. 

"Happy birthday," we all called out. Well... everyone but me, I just mumbled it, and only because Thor was standing next to me. Hey, you can say about me what you want, but I'm polite okay? I have manners, you can't say that of my brother. 

When the second song started to play, "Captain America" looked even more dumbfounded than he already did. And he hadn't even seen the girls yet. His jaw dropped when they walked in and I really wanted to close his mouth... maybe a little more harshly than would have been necessary, but I didn't. Instead of that I tried to enjoy the show. The ladies didn't just sing along, they danced too. Might be they practiced that in Natasha's room. I'm still not sure of what they did there. I am sure that Natasha was flirting with Steve though... It was pretty obvious, then again, I've read in her files that it was one of her tactics. Not that I never used my own flirting techniques to get information out of others... but... well... just forget that. 

After the show I decided it was better for me to just go sit on the room they had appointed me and to go sit on my bed and read. I didn't have any of my own books here, they all burned with Asgard, so I had to borrow some books. Natasha posed as my library... well, her bookcase did, she posed more as a librarian. I borrowed her books, or one of her books. At the moment I was borrowing, "A Game of Thrones," a book by George R. R. Martin. It was a nice read, more than seven hundred pages, and a lot of bloodshed. The point of view switches kept the book more interesting, but some points of view were straight up boring most of the time, Like Catelyn Stark. Tyrion Lannister, however, was a very interesting character. A man with quick wit and a sharp tongue, he was smart and underestimated. Not a fighter, far from it, although he did kill some people at one point in the book. He was a bit of an underdog, he stood in the shadow of his older brother, who was a knight, a fighter, but not really the smartest. They reminded me of two other brothers... But Thor never had an incestuous relationship with his sister... Good thing too, that woman was mad... Anyway, Tyrion reminded me of myself. Except of course for the fact that he was ugly and I'm not... Apart from that, Tyrion reminded me of me, and he became my favorite character quite quickly. 

Tony

All Steve did was smile and look surprised, my plan had worked. Of course it hadn't been easy to trick the Captain, he must have known something was going on, which is why we sent our best liar to hang around with him... a lot. She told him there was nothing going on and he probably believed her, which is why he looked surprised. I took a picture of his stunned face, "That one's going on the fridge Cap," I told him. He seemed to "wake up" from his daze, he shook his head lightly and went, "What? Wait, hey, no delete that picture!" "Make," I told him and I jumped on the couch. He tried to come after me, so I tossed the camera away, straight into Natasha's hands. She took a picture of Steve chasing me right before she tossed it to Clint, who took a picture of Steve accidentally tackling Natasha as he tried to grab for the camera. "Hi to you too, Steve," was all Nat said, but it was enough for Steve to awkwardly get up and pull her up with him. Then he turned to Clint, "Please delete that picture..." "I can't," Clint said with a shrug. Ten minutes later we were all taking silly pictures together as the music continued to play on the background. 

"Miss Potts, would you care for a dance?" I asked Pepper as one of the slower songs started to play. We had cleared out part of the room to make space for a dancefloor. "Sure, Mr. Stark," she said with a smile as she took my outstretched arm. Oh, the ladies had changed into normal clothes by the way... Well, normal clothes, they were dressed for the occasion, as were we all. Yeah, it might have been an Independence day themed birthday party, but hey, we're Americans, well.. most of us are. We were all dressed in red white and blue, or in one of those colors. Steve said it was too much for him, but he was a bad liar, so it was pretty clear that he actually found it a little funny... maybe even more than a little. Pepper wore a blue dress, the blue backless dress she had bought for her birthday... with my money... because I forgot. She looked stunning, her hair hanging loose over her shoulders and over her back. "I really love that dress," I told her. "Well, you better, it was your birthday present, remember?" She was teasing me. "How could I forget?" "It's way better than the huge bunny." "I did quite like the bunny." "Of course you did." "It was cute." "How did you even get it in our house?" "Long story." She sighed. "But let's not think of that right now. Let's just concentrate on the music and on each other.... And maybe a little bit on the birthday boy." 

"Birthday boy?" Natasha asked as she twirled past in her white dress... well, mostly white dress. It was strapless and the bodice was laid in with fake diamonds, rubies and sapphires... or at least I think they were fake, in any case, they formed the American flag. "The birthday grandpa they mean," Clint, who was twirling her around, replied. "Guys, I can hear you," Steve brought up. "We know, it was quite loud!" Clint yelled. "And now that we got your attention, Mr. I'm a century old," Natasha yelled at him, "maybe you'd like to join us on the dancefloor?" "Don't think dancing in a group of three is comfortable," he replied. "Well, I'm sure Clint would happily dance with you," Natasha replied to him. Laughter rose from the dancefloor and well... from everyone actually. "Sure, I'd love to," Clint said. "Hmm, I don't know." "What? Am I not a fabulous dancer?" He showed off some of his dance moves, letting go of Natasha and going full disco. Everyone laughed again. "Clint, you're embarrassing yourself," Natasha told him. "Friends are no real friends if you can't embarrass yourself in front of them without them giving a single fuck and just joining in," he replied without missing a beat. So Nat shrugged and followed his lead... and eventually we all did as we ignored the music for a while. Sometimes it's fun to act silly. 

Eventually we returned to normal, or as normal as the Avengers, two teenagers, some of the Dora Milaje, a blue alien, a bunch of Asgardians and a mutated raccoon can possibly be. Steve asked Natasha to dance, and Clint danced with one of the cats he snatched off of the couch. The cat seemed to be okay with it and purred the whole time. Banner danced with Shuri for a while and then he handed her over to Harley, the two of them had become good friends, and he danced with Darcy for a while. Thor danced with Sif. Brunnhilde and Nebula just stood close to the snack table watching us all. "Want a drink?" Brunnhile asked Nebula. "Yes," she replied. And so the first cans of beer were opened. 

Steve

"How bad is it if I forgot what day it is today?" I asked Natasha. "Very bad." "And why is that exactly?" "Because it's your hundredth birthday Captain Century." "How many more ridiculous nicknames are you going to give me?" "As much as pleases me," she said with a smile. "You look great by the way." "Thank you, I had this dress made specially for this occasion." "Really?" "Yeah, I just wanted to join in the independence day fun." "That must have been expensive though." She shrugged, "I know people... I got a discount." "You know people?" She smiled mysteriously, "I know people." "That's all you're going to tell me, isn't it?" "It is." "I like your hair too, it has grown since the battle." "Well, hair grows." "It sure does." "Your hair used to be shorter too, were you planning to let it grow as long as Bucky's? Or maybe as long as Thor's once was?" She was teasing me now. "I don't know, I think I'd look dashing as a Viking, don't you?" "Possibly, personally I think you're not the long shaggy beard type of person..." "I could keep my beard like this." She shrugged, "You'd need a horned helmet though, and a more traditional shield... like your old shield. You know, a round shield, or at least one that does whatever your new shield does." "And a spear." "Why a spear?" "Do I need a reason to want a spear?" "Spears are perfectly good weapons," Okoye said as we twirled past her. "They're good for stabbing people," Natasha agreed. "I prefer guns though." "How medieval," Okoye mumbled. Natasha shook her head, "Says a woman who fights with a spear." 

As we made our way past the table, Nat grabbed a hat off of it and put it on my head. It was one of those hats you see on those "I want you for U.S. army!" posters, an Uncle Sam hat. "There, it goes with your shirt." Well... it was a white shirt, and it said Brooklyn, 1918, surrounded by a few blue stars. It also had some red stripes at the bottom. It had been a present for my last birthday, of course it was given to me by Natasha to remind me of how old I was. She had it costume made for me, the way I liked my shirts, she said. Which meant stretchy but still a little tight... almost like a second skin... I did have a lot of t-shirts like that. The fact that I was wearing it now was just a coincidence though. I hadn't looked on the calendar in days, well, weeks. I didn't even have a calendar on my room. 

"Looks good, Steve!" Clint half mockingly yelled at me as we twirled past him, and in the flash of a second Nat had snatched up another hat and threw it at Clint. It hit him right in the face. "Looks good, Clint!" I told him. "Bastard," he mumbled in reply. "Hey, I didn't do a thing." "Yeah, smile, you innocent lamb... while you still can..." "Oh my, you're so scary," Natasha said, as sarcastic as can be. Clint replied by throwing the hat back at her, I snatched it out of the air and put it on Clint's head as we danced past him again. "It looks great on you too." "Well, of course it does, I always look dashing." Natasha rolled her eyes, "Sure, Clint." "You love me!" "Yeah, you're my favorite idiot!" "Good enough!" 

Nebula

"So, you're one of the... friends of Mr. One-eye?" I asked Brunnhilde. "Yeah, well, more one of his... guards by now. I was part of an all-female elite force that kept Asgard save." "And now you serve Mr. One-eye." "Yeah, and daddy One-eye before him." "What?" "His father lost an eye too... Well, so I heard, all of that was after what happened with Hela." "His father... Odin, right?" "Yes." "So the all-female elite force you were a part of. That must have been the Valkyries." She sighed, "It was." "I thought they were all dead." "All but me." "Looks like you got a few things in common with my sister then." "What?" Now it was me who sighed, "My sister, Gamora." "The deadliest woman of the galaxy? Gamora, daughter of Thanos?" "Yes, that Gamora...." She narrowed her eyes, "You're one of his other daughters... And since you're definitely not Proxima Midnight, she doesn't look so... metallic, you must be Nebula." "So you've heard of us." "I saw you when you visited Sakaar with Thanos." "And you remembered Gamora because?" "Her title, and her fondness of swords." I nodded, the Valkyries fought with swords too. "And what about Proxima?" "Really? I don't know. She looks pretty dark, and she seemed to be very devoted to whatever your fathers cause was back then." "Yeah... but so was Gamora back then..." "And then she joined those Guardians of the Galaxy." "She did." "And what about you?" "Me?" "Yeah, you, what did you think of Thanos's cause?" "I did what I had to do to survive, and so did Gamora, when she finally saw that what Thanos did was terrible, when she hated him again..." "Sha hated him before?" "Her devotedness to his cause lasted only a few years, then she found out that he slaughtered people behind our backs... And I mean mass slaughter. He did anything to get his hands on the Infinity Stones. He tortured people, killed people, drove people mad..." "Doesn't really sound like a good environment to raise a kid." "Probably why Thanos sucked at being a dad." 

"Hey ladies," Rocket said as he jumped on the table. "Hey rat," I replied. "Ever so polite." "Got a problem?" "Apart from being hungry? Nah." "You're Rocket right?" Brunnhilde asked him. "The one and only." "You're a raccoon." "I'm not." "You are," I told him. "You just called me a rat!" I shrugged, "That was to annoy you." He sighed, "Anyway, who's she?" He asked as he pointed into Brunnhilde's direction. "That's Brunnhilde, the last remaining Valkyrie." "Hold up, she's the last remaining person of something and she fights with a sword?" "Yes." He snorted, "Sounds familiar. Has she got issues? Brunnhilde, have you got issues?" "Is he always so rude?" "I don't know him that well, but yes." "You got issues, don't ya?" She looked at him questioningly, then she shrugged and simply stated, "We all got issues here." "Well, can't say that's not true. Just look around, it's a room full of issues... well, except maybe Darcy." 

Scott

Yeah, it was the fourth of July, and yes, there was a birthday party going on, but was I really happy. No, not really. Why? Because I always used to celebrate independence day with Cassie, and I had really been looking forward to that, but instead of that I was stuck in Issue Town. I might have overheard the conversation between Nebula, Brunhhilde and Rocket. I could have gonna back home of course, but to only go back to celebrate independence day with Cassie? No, I couldn't do that. I probably wouldn't want to leave once back home and then I'd be of no use... And let's be real, Hank, Janet and Hope would be very angry with me if they learned I'd done nothing to get them back... Of course it wasn't sure if we could get them back, and I'm pretty sure Hope was still kinda mad at me before the "snappening" happened. I just didn't want her to get madder. I smiled, despite not feeling like celebrating. I ate some of the snacks, despite not really being hungry. I just acted as if it was a normal day. 

"You look like you're not having fun," Shuri said as she came up to me. "Is it that obvious?" "Well, no, but, you think anybody is really having fun?" "What?" "We're all just doing this because we're pretending to move on." "Don't you mean "trying to forget"?" "No, because that'd mean we'd be trying to forget our loved ones." "And we don't want that." "Indeed." "So we're just skipping the "trying to forget" part and go straight on to the "we're moving on" part." "Kinda like that yes. But it doesn't work like that of course." "No, it doesn't. But, whatever we're feeling, I mean, we do feel joy at times... is that real?" "Of course it is. Of course we can be happy, even in times like this, times of despair. A person with depression can be happy too." "What?" "Natasha told me that, depression is more complicated than you think." "How does she know?" She shrugged, "I decided to respect her privacy and not ask her that question." "So, the joking, the joy, it's all real." "But there's always this little layer of hurt underneath. We're just pretending to move on to make ourselves feel better." "And here I thought you only knew about tech..." "Well, when you already know a lot about one thing, you have free time... and you can use that time to study something else. Which is why I'm also a doctor, and why I'm studying psychology by now." "Must be fun to be that smart." "If the people around you support you yes. I've lost some friends because I was "acting too smart"." I looked at her, "Wow." "Yeah, it's not always as fun as it sounds to be so smart." 

"Hey, Shuri, Tony says he's going to help me build an armor for myself! Oh, hi Scott." I smiled, "Hey Harley." Haley was a good kid, he liked tech and almost worshipped Tony. He was also very amazed by the tech used for the Ant-Man suit. So was Shuri. She asked me if she could do some research on it once, but I told her no. I wasn't about to give Hank's lifework away. "You were saying something about an armor?" I asked trying to sound interested. "Yeah, Tony is going to help me build my own armor, one that I'll be able to operate like he does. And I can choose my own weapons to put in it and all. It's gonna be awesome." "That sounds pretty cool yeah." "I know right?" He started to explain the basics of building a suit, followed by a list of the possibilities and varieties of weapons. He talked so fast that I almost couldn't follow him. However, it was a very interesting conversation and I learned that Shuri and Harley are fun to hang around with. I think Cassie would have agreed with me. Maybe I'd introduce her to them once. Maybe I'll just introduce her to all the Avengers and all the others. She'd love them. 

Natasha

"So, you liking your birthday?" I asked Steve. "Well, yes. A little." "What do you like most about it, you know, until now?" "Well, I like your dress." I rolled my eyes, "Is that what you like most?" "Well, I like it on you." "Steve..." "I like the music, and I like dancing." "Well, that sounds more like it." "The dress is still lovely though," he said with a wink. "Yeah, so is your hat." He took it off of his head and placed it on mine. "Hmmm, that looks nice." I took it off, "Careful, you'll ruin my hair." He took it over and placed it back on his own head. "I'm sorry ma'am." "Sorry my ass," I mumbled. His grin showed that he agreed with me. "You know, Steve, you're not even half as innocent as you pretend." "Oh, I know that. Took you long enough to figure that out though." "Oh," I said as I cocked an eyebrow, "is that so?" "Yeah, that is so." "Who says I didn't already know?" "You'd have told the others." "And ruin the fun of watching you trying to stifle your laughter when somebody makes a dirty joke, trying to pretend you have no idea of what's going on. Seeing the lights in your eyes die when you realize you can never laugh at that kind of jokes again?" "You're taking it a little far now." I shrugged, "I always loved drama." "Really?" "When the drama isn't about me. I had a great time hanging around Tony and Pepper back in 2010, despite Tony's almost constant flirting." "Oh, I bet there was more than just flirting." "That would be none of your business." 

After dancing, snacking and drinking for hours, yeah drinking too, we had dinner. This dinner was nothing special, well, except for the fact that it was an indoor barbecue. Indoors because it had started to rain and nobody was willing to get wet. Or at least not like that. I mean, we did all want to take a shower after the barbecue, you know, to relax. But before that we had the barbecue. Which would have been very messy if we'd held it in the Avengers common room, so we moved it to the throne room, with Shuri's permission. There we ate in peace. Till there was no piece of roast meat or vegetable left. We had ice cream for dessert. I have to say, the ice cream wasn't as good as the 's'mores we had some time ago, but it was still pretty good. 

Eventually the rain stopped and we ended the day with fireworks. All of it in red white and blue of course. It was a spectacular show, the fireworks formed words, like, Happy independence day, Who's strong and brave here to save the American way, I've knocked out Adolf Hitler over 200 times, oh, by the way, the fireworks was, obviously, Tony's doing, with a little help of Shuri and Rocket, who said he only helped because he likes to, and I'm quoting him here, "blow shit up". They also formed Happy Birthday Steve, congrats on becoming a hundred year old virgin. After that we had Uncle Sam, the American flag and Steve in full Captain America gear. The rest was just stars and normal fireworks, okay, that and the Stark Industries logo at the very beginning of the show. 

Bruce

The party was great, everyone had had fun, even Scott, after a few drinks. The fireworks were beautiful, although they might have been a little bit too much, then again, what do you expect from Tony? He likes his parties big and noisily and that is exactly what this show was. The rest of the party had been noisy too though, but that was just music, music is good noise. That is if it's calming music. Slightly less calm music, like heavy metal, used to trigger the Hulk sometimes. Not that the Hulk wanted to come out and play anymore. The guy seemed to be pretty done with me. As if he wanted to say "Save your sorry ass yourself, you little shit." Which I think is precisely what he wanted to say. I couldn't say for sure of course, because he didn't want to come out. You could say he was being a dick. 

It's not like I minded it that much, it's just... I couldn't fight aliens myself. The Hulk, he knows that. And still he just left me to fend for myself when those aliens attacked us. Maybe he has forgotten that if I die, he dies too, although I don't know if it is possible for me to die. I tried it myself once... but the hulk took over and we survived. I never tried again since, because I knew it wouldn't work. 

We spend the rest of the night with a little more dancing before we called it a day and went off to bed. The next day would be another normal boring day, but at least it would be another boring day with my friends. Or maybe it wouldn't be boring, I mean, you can never say, not the day before. And we did have to clean up all the party stuff. That could make for quite some entertainment, like people draping the little flags around them, and basically just a lot of terrible jokes, music and singing, possibly some dancing around and somebody slipping out over the confetti. I smiled as I thought of it. Yeah, today was a good day, let's just wait and see what tomorrow brings. 

Loki

Wait. They're all saying that the fireworks was a little too much? Well, that's quite the understatement. It was unnecessary, and fueled by Tony's ego. So of course all those idiots loved it to bits. Pathetic Midgardians. No wonder I prefer my books over their company. Okay, maybe I came out of my room to join the party after a while, but I mostly talked with Nebula and Brunnhilde, I even had a short conversation with Darcy, who has, as it turns out, read some of the Game of Thrones books and who also turns out to be smarter than she looks. The barbecue was alright, my brother seemed to love it and the Midgardians treated me... well... normally. Which is strange, after what I did to them while being under Thanos's influence. Maybe they finally listened, or maybe it was the alcohol, I do still think that the latter seems most likely. The ice cream wasn't funny. I turned blue, Nebula supported me though and said that blue is one of the best skin-colors there is, that it's not as boring as whatever color their skins are. Pink or something? I think it's pink, some of them are brown, some of them are darker brown, and some of them are almost black. There are even some "red" and "yellow" tones. It's actually quite interesting to see how diverse Midgardians are. But, pathetic as they are, they don't see it like that themselves. Sometimes I wonder why, then I remember that I don't care. 

The next day existed out of cleaning the party mess. And, nice as I am, I actually helped with the cleaning process. They all still treated me like it was normal to have me around. They didn't sneer at me, although I might have treated them as lesser beings once. It seemed like they actually believed my story. It was a nice experience to have humans treat me as their equal... the way it once was with Thor and me... before Odin came and ruined our bond by telling Thor that he would be King later on and train him for that. To be honest, I missed it, to be treated as an equal, but I wouldn't ever tell any of them. I also wouldn't tell them that maybe, just maybe they weren't that bad after all. There was something about them, especially the Avengers, that made them seem like a family. I never knew that, I never knew that despair could bring people together like that. It was, well, not fascinating, or maybe a little bit fascinating. It was remotely interesting, let's just keep it on that. Remotely interesting. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really have so many characters in this fic already... and there are more coming up...  
> Anyway... I hope that whoever is reading this, yeah, you too, likes this. If you do, please leave a comment or something.


	11. Meanwhile in Thanos's rock collection

Peter P.

"How long have we been here?" I asked the others for the I don't know how manieth time. "Shut up Peter," was the only reply I got, this coming from Sam Wilson. "I didn't say anything," Peter Quill yelled. I, at the same time yelled, "I'm booooored!" "I was talking to Parker! And I don't care that you're bored Parker! We're all bored here, and nobody knows how long we've been here and how much longer we will be here." I fell back from sitting position to lying position. The floor veered a little underneath me, "Do you think we're dead?" "I don't know kid, but I sure do hope we're not." "It doesn't feel like it, I mean, I feel alive," Quill replied. "Maybe being dead feels the same as being alive." "I don't think so kid." "So you think we're alive?" They both replied with, "Yeah, I do." "You think they're trying to get us back?" "The Avengers wouldn't be the Avengers if they didn't avenge, now would they?" Sam said. "I suppose so... Man, I wish Ned was here." I had looked for him, Ned, my best friend, but I hadn't found him... Maybe I hadn't found him because I was on another planet I thought at first, but then I found Sam, Wanda, Bucky and some others from earth, and that theory had been destroyed like my body when it turned to dust. 

I had been there when a lot of people appeared, some of them looked scared, others were crying, some just looked annoyed and others looked content with their fate. But there was only one that topped them all, the guy who introduced himself as Nick Fury appeared into the Soulworld with a loud "FUCKER!" it was beautiful. There was also this group of three people who looked really disturbed. Talk was that they had been working on some kind of... I don't know, experiment or something and that a friend of theirs was now lost in something they called the Quantum Realm. I asked them what the Quantum Realm is but the old guy didn't seem to have the patience to explain anything to a teenager. Mind you, none of them actually did. So I just sat there getting more bored every second. 

It got a little funnier when that trio, oh, wait, they have names, the old man is Dr. Hank Pym, his wife, the older woman is Janet van Dyne, the second woman is their daughter, Hope van Dyne, don't do anything stupid around her, she will judge you. Anyway, it was kinda funny when they met Nick, Nick was like, "Hank, I haven't seen you in years, you've gotten old." So Hank was just like, "Yes, that happens." And Nick turned to Janet and was like, "And last time I heard of you, you were dead." So she went, "I wasn't dead, I was lost." At last he turned to Hope and went, "Last time I saw you, you were seven and this tall," he said as he gestured how tall she was. Hope's reply is what made this conversation funny, "Last time I saw you, you had two eyes and hair." I have to admit, I snorted, to which Nick responded by giving me and angry and kinda intimidating look. "Yeah, that's a long story," he said as he turned back to Hope. 

But, despite all the funny things that happened, living in the Soulworld was just horrible. You couldn't separate the nights from the days, for it was like some kind of eternal sunset in there. This is why I lost track of time and asked the others if maybe they knew for how long we had been in there. This was, of course, to the annoyance of all the others in the Soulworld. They didn't know it either. 

Groot

I am Groot. I am Groot. I am Groot. 

Peter Q.

So, yeah, that Soulworld was boring and annoying. The floor looked like water and the sky was orange, like, all the time. Good thing I wasn't completely alone there, for I might have gone insane if I were. I quickly found my friends in that place, almost as soon as I'd appeared there, that wasn't the problem. However, finding Groot there a little while later, yeah, that was a problem. Especially since he was there without Rocket, surrounded by people he didn't know. That would have been horrible for everyone. Groot didn't really seem to mind it though. Teenagers, really... Anyway, after we found Groot, we set to exploring this Soulworld, trying to look for a way out. And not just me and my friends. Little Peter joined in too, so did Sam and Bucky, who seemed to kind of annoy each other from time to time, and Hope, who tried to look professional but who I think was either really mad or very sad on the inside at that point. Hard to tell. 

"I am Groot." "What do you mean you can't go any further than this," I asked Groot. "I am Groot." "A barrier?" "I am Groot." I went to stand next to Groot and tried to reach out with my hand. There it was, a barrier. "That's strange." "No, Strange is over there," little Peter said as he pointed over to Stephen, who had decided to join us this one time. Stephen rolled his eyes in reply. "If there is a barrier we must break it, this might be the way to going back to our normal realm," Drax said and he charged. He ran headfirst into the barrier, bad idea, hit it and was thrown back several feet. "Nice job," Hope told him sarcastically. "At least I'm trying to do something." "Did you ever hear of making a plan?" "He hasn't," I told her. "I thought so." "Wait, isn't this a force field," little Peter asked. "It is," Hope replied. "What of it?" I asked. "Well, a force field... it must be powered by something..." "Something being powered by something in the Soulworld?" "It sounds strange, but the kid is right. This is a force field, if we find its source of power, we'll be able to break it down by destroying it." "Destroying its power source?" "It should work." "If there's no back up system." "And you think it'll get us out of here?" I asked them. "You really want to know what I think," Hope asked me. "Well, yes." "I don't think it'll get us out. Look around you, you see all kinds of people from all kinds of planets, right?" "Uhu, but what has that got to do with it?" "some of those races are far more advanced than us humans, if there was a way out, surely they must have found it by now." "Then what's up with the force field," little Peter asked. "I think it's hiding something." 

"Hiding something? Why would the Soulworld be hiding something? It doesn't make any sense," I said as we were back at our base camp." "Maybe it isn't the stone that is hiding something," Mantis whispered, "Maybe it's Thanos." I looked up, "What would Thanos have to hide?" "The evidence of what he did to retrieve this stone." "Wait, you think Gamora is in there? On the other side I mean?" "Well, I did feel a presence, it wasn't until we were back here that I realized the presence was familiar." "Wait, you felt a presence... how?" "I think it's because of this world, I don't need to touch somebody to know how they feel... Everything is different here." "So, what do you say? You think we should look for that power source so we can destroy it and see if it's really Gamora on the other side?" "I think we should," Drax said, "she's a part of our family, we should do what we can to find her and reunite with her." "I am Groot," Groot agreed. "We should," Mantis said. "Alright," I nodded, "it's settled then. We're going to look for that power source." 

Wanda

They were trying to look for a way to break out. I understood why they did it, but I also knew that it was a hopeless cause. Why I didn't help? Well, why would I? Why would I want to go back if I had nobody to go back to? Sure, I had my friends, but... the people who I loved, who I really loved, they were all dead. I saw no reason in going back. I honestly wished that I was dead. Really dead. So I could be reunited with my family in the afterlife, if there was such a thing as an afterlife, or so I wouldn't have to life with the fact that they were dead... gone... forever, not anymore. 

"Hey, you're Scarlet Witch, right?" I looked up to find Peter Parker staring at me. "I am," I told him. "I'm Spider-Man, you know, from Germany?" "Yeah, you're the kid who stole Cap's shield, right?" "I'm not a kid, I'm seventeen." "That makes you a kid." "Well, I'd say teenager, but-." "Kid." "Yeah, okay, kid is fine. Anyway, I just wanted to say that you're awesome." "Uh, thanks?" "You're welcome." He walked off and I smiled a little. Peter was a good kid, he was enthusiastic, full of life... he shouldn't be here. I sighed, "Screw you Thanos," I whispered, "screw you for putting all of this in motion, for sending Loki to earth with that damn Mind stone..." If he hadn't, my brother and I could have lived normal lives... or as normal as would have been possible for two orphans. You wouldn't have met Vision though, the voice in my head told me. Yeah, and so he wouldn't have died on me either. Mind you, Pietro wouldn't have died either if we hadn't had our powers... we would have been normal kids, we wouldn't have been at the heart of the fight, we would have fled. I sighed. Be a little nicer to yourself Wanda... After all, you did destroy Ultron... you tried to defend earth from aliens, you don't have to bring yourself down...

"So, you're the woman they call Scarlet Witch?" Peter Quill asked me as he walked up to me. "I am, what of it?" I looked up at him, he was quite tall and I was sitting down, with the Soulworld sun shining right in my face. He was nothing more than a black silhouette to me, but I recognized his voice and the voice of his thoughts. "I thought your name was Wanda." "It is, Star-Lord," I said with a lightly mocking undertone. "Yeah, point made. Anyway, the kid says you have some very interesting powers." "I'm not a kid!!" "Depends on how you define interesting." "Well uh, being able to move things with your mind... break things at will I think too, have you ever tried that?" "No, why?" "Well, because there's this weird barrier close to here and I thought... if you're able to break stuff, maybe... maybe we could find what's behind it you know?" "Probably more Soulworld." "Yeah, I know, but don't you wonder why Thanos closed off one part of the Soulworld?" "How do you know it's just the one part? Have you checked if it goes around or something?" "No... but I could do that. Anyway, you wanna try to break it or no?" "Why? You think something important could be back there?" He looked down and sighed, "Well, more like someone important." This is where another one of my powers suddenly "tuned in". Meaning, Mantis isn't the only empath in the Soulworld, the only difference is that I don't have to touch someone to feel their feelings, I can read them in their mind. "This person is important to you," I stated, "and to Thanos." "It would make sense for him to shield her off from the rest." "Maybe..." "Maybe?" "Also, I think little Peter's theory doesn't add up... it's not powered by something... or at least not something physical." "Then what do you think that force field is powered by?" "The energy of the stone itself." 

Hope

"It does make sense, all of the stones are powerful enough to serve as a battery of a basic force field." "How do you know that," Quill asked. "Basic science," Parker replied. "Dude, how is that basic science?" "We are captured in a rock and you ask me how I know that it's powerful enough to sustain a force field?" "Didn't think of that, go on." "Thank you. Now, since this is probably the case, this force field will probably be a lot stronger than we expected." "So we have to throw more force against it." "Thank you, Parker. However, as Drax has already... demonstrated, we cannot touch the force field." "At least not physically." "Stop interrupting me, Parker." "Sorry." "This is where Wanda's powers come in." "Because they're not physical. Sorry, I can't help myself." I sighed. "You and I both know that my smart comments don't annoy you but actually kinda amuse you." I glared at him, even though he had the truth of it. He was smart, I like that in people. I looked at Wanda. "Do you think you can do this?" She shrugged, "I never tried." "But you're willing to try?" "Well... it means a lot to Quill..." She looked a little distraught when she said it, sad even. I wonder why that is. Not now, focus. "We would need to try more than just that." "How," Quill asked, "you want us to shoot at the force field?" "Yes?" "What?" "I want you to shoot at the force field." "Oh, well this is going to be a lot more fun than I thought it would be." "Can I have a gun too," Parker asked, to which everyone replied with a loud and clear, "No!" 

"So, you're Hope van Dyne huh?" Wanda was walking next to me as we were walking to the force field. Or at least into the general direction Peter thought he had found it. "I am, yes. Why, have you heard of me?" "Scott might have mentioned you." "He... mentioned me?" "When we were in jail yes. He mentioned his daughter too... a lot of times actually, but he mentioned you too, almost as much, he usually said you'd be really mad at him though and that he messed up his chances with you..." "You mean?" "Yeah, he likes you, but you know that... and you like him too." "What? Wait, are you reading my mind?" she shrugged, "It's kind of a habit, it's really hard to quit." "Old habits die hard." "Yeah, indeed. Anyway, why are you trying so hard not to show that the fact that Scott mentioned you makes you happy?" "Well... because..." "Tragic past?" "Nothing too tragic..." "Uhu... suuure. Let me guess, a lot of people who you cared about and who should have cared about you left you and now you're afraid of losing people so you're afraid of getting attached to people and afraid to trust people?" "You're still reading my mind, aren't you?" "Yup." "Why?" "Like I said, it's a habit. Your backstory is kinda tragic, but you're strong. I resorted to the "dark side" you didn't. That's good, you'd have been a terrific villain." "What?" This conversation just took a huge turn. "Why?" "Cause you're so smart and all. Science and stuff. I never really liked science that much." "Well... everybody their own interests." "You're curious about me... about what Hydra, the ex-Nazi science division did to me?" Oh, so she saw that? "Yes, I did." Really? "Sorry." I sighed, "It's not what Hydra did to you, although that is quite interesting of course, but I don't want to make you feel like I see you as an experiment, which I don't." "I know." "It's just, I caught the look on your face when you said that the person behind that... barrier was someone who was important to Quill and it just... caught me wondering..." "If I lost someone who was important to me?" "Yes... like that." She sighed and looked down at her feet, "I did," for a second she sounded as if she was about to break, then she looked up and spoke again, "and I'm not going to let that happen to others..." 

We finally reached the force field after what felt like two hours of walking. Of course there was no way to tell how long it actually had been because all of our technology, even our watches, had stopped working and there was no sun. It's times like this that you realize time is actually an illusion created by human beings, because except for days, and years, no other "forms" of time actually make sense, like how seasons start in the middle of a year and how a day lasts exactly twenty-four hours. Hours, minutes and seconds, all of that was made up by humans. "Hope, are you okay?" "What?" "Please don't mess with my mind with your whole, time is an illusion, thing." "Maybe you shouldn't read my mind." "Fair point." "Oh, oh, read my mind." "Parker, no, I don't want to hear about memes..." "It's vines!" "Fine, whatever." 

Peter P.

"There's a difference between vines and memes, you know?" "We don't care," both Hope and Wanda replied. "I mean, memes are pictures, vines are videos." "So that means that either vines are memes in video form or memes are vines in picture form," Hope replied. "Uh... well... maybe..." "She's got you there kid." "I'm not a kid, Quill!" "Yes you are! You're like, what? Fifteen?" "I'm seventeen!" "Seriously? Why are you so short then?" "Well... at least I'm... well... You know what? Screw Footloose!" "Hey! Take that back!" "No!" "Yes!" "No!" Remember when I said you shouldn't do anything stupid around Hope because she'd judge you? Yeah, you guessed it, she was judging us... hard. "Ladies!" We both turned to her, "What did you just call us?" "Done bitchfighting? Good, let's focus." Wanda looked slightly amused. "Oh, yeah, the barrier," Quill said. "I am Groot." "I'm not an easily distracted idiot!" "I am Groot." "I am very focused!" "I am Groot." "Yes, that is indeed why I am distracted by you now... oh... Damn you Groot!" Groot smiled. "Can we just get to work?" Maybe it was a good thing Hope joined us, at least we got something done like that. 

Wanda faced the barrier, she closed her eyes to concentrate and suddenly there was this weird red smoke like substance coming out of her hands. It was awesome. "Can we start shooting now?" "Do the guns even work," I asked. "I mean, most technology doesn't." "We haven't tried the weapons before..." "Let's just try them now then," Peter said as he cocked his gun, "huh, that's a start." He tried to shoot and, "BANG!" "Hell yeah, they work!" "None of this makes sense, but I do wish I had my blasters now..." "I am Groot." "Of course you can shoot too." "Oh, he gets to have a gun but I don't?" "Quiet, Parker." "But he's a tree!" "Hey, Hope, I still got some extra guns, you want one?" "Sure." "Can I have one too Mr. Lord?" "No, kid, and stop calling me that." "I am Groot." "Oh shut up, Groot. I'm not giving the kid a gun!" "I am Groot." "Yes, I know that you're a teenager too, but you're already messed up anyway, since you were raised by us and all." "I am Groot." "Yes you are, you were raised by a bunch of morons, I'm not gonna mess up another kid." "I am Groot." It sounded disapproving and a little mocking. "Hey, watch your language man!" "What did he say," I asked. "Something bad." "How bad? F-word bad." "Yes kid, f-word bad. Now please excuse me as I shoot at this invisible wall over th- DUDE!!" Drax had run at the barrier using his knives to try and pierce through it. And he had been thrown back several feet... again. "Were you really going to try to STAB your way through a freaking FORCE FIELD?" "I thought it might work!" "OF COURSE IT WOULDN'T! WHY WOULD YOU THINK THAT?" "Because you said weapons work!" "I meant guns, now get your gun out and shoot at the damn thing!" Meanwhile, Hope was giving Drax the worst judging you look I'd ever seen her give anyone. How does Wanda stay focused with all this going on? I wondered as Drax started shooting the barrier. 

They kept shooting and Wanda kept doing whatever it was that she did for I don't know how long. Meanwhile I was trying to figure out the science behind the fact that guns worked while other stuff didn't. It just didn't add up. None of it. Damn, different realms are weird.

"What are they trying to do?" it was the voice of a young woman... one that I recognized. I turned my upper body around and looked up to properly see her, I was sitting on the ground in the meanwhile. "Parker?" "Michelle?" It was indeed Michelle Jones, my classmate and... friend? I don't really know if she was my friend. "You here too?" "No, I'm on Curacao." "I see." "Now what ere those people doing? Why is that guy not wearing a shirt? Why is that other guy a tree?" "I am Groot." "Okay, why is that other guy a Groot?" "It's a long story." "And what are you wearing?" "It's... a suit." "Part of the long story? Wait, is that a spider on your suit?" "What? No! It isn't!" She gave me that weird, I'm seeing right through your lies, look, "Uhu... It really looks like a spider though." "That's silly, I just thought it was a cool design..." "Did you," she did not believe me at all. "Yeah..." "So you're not... let's say, Spider-Man?" "Of course not..." "You're not Iron-Man's protégé, I mean, you are his intern... and you mysteriously disappear a lot... and you're wearing a suit with a spider on it..." I sighed, I couldn't really get out of that, could I? "Fine, yes, I'm Spider-Man, but don't tell anyone!" "I knew it! And don't worry, Peter, I'm not gonna tell anyone." "Good, wait what? You knew it?" "Well, remember when we were off with the team and you kinda disappeared all the time and... you know, the elevator?" "Oh, yeah... that." "Yeah, I heard your voice... it sounded familiar and you being gone all the time and Spider-Man showing up whenever you were gone. You know, I can do basic math." "What?" "One and one is two, Peter." "Oh." 

"So, what are they doing?" "Oh, uh, yeah, they're trying to break the barrier." "Barrier?" "Yeah, there's a barrier there, you see, the bullets hit it, you hear them hit it actually." "I hear a lot of stuff." "Yeah, I know, anyway, there's a barrier and they're trying to break it." "What for?" "There's someone behind it, and maybe it's a way out... who knows." "A way out? How could breaking a barrier be a way out of another dimension. There is no way out of another dimension, unless someone might be able to create portals between worlds and dimensions! Or if you could turn back time... you could prevent what caused this." "Ah, yes, that's what's Strange's working on?" "Strange?" "Yeah, he calls himself Dr. Strange." "You mean the famous surgeon Stephen Strange?" "Wait, Strange is his real name?" "Uh... yes." "I thought it was his made up name!" "Really, Peter?" "Yes... Also, don't you have anything better to do than to sit here, ask me stuff and judge me?" "Nope, haven't found anybody else here that I know, so I'm glad to see a familiar face." "Seriously, your family isn't here?" "Nope. Only a few kids of our school that I don't really like." "Bet you they don't like us either." "Yeah, they don't. Sports kids, they don't really like what they call "nerds". "That's so stereotypical." "Yup." "It's weird." "It is." 

Peter Q. 

It felt as if we had been shooting for hours when we finally ran out of munition. "Damn." "Damn indeed," Drax said. "I am Groot." "Yeah, we really ran out of munition." "I am Groot." "I know that that's bad, that's why I said damn!" "I am Groot." "Then say it in an emphasizing way!" "I am Groot." "Oh shut up!" "Guys, Wanda's trying to concentrate over there," hope brought up. "Also, look at the wall." I did as she said, with women like Hope it's better to just do as they say. She wasn't as scare as Gamora could be, but she could surely give me a fair beating. "There are cracks in it..." "Indeed," Hope said as Parker said, "No shit, Sherlock," under his breath, to which the girl next to him replied with a chuckle. "There are actually cracks in it... the plan is working." "Wanda, you think you can widen the cracks with your powers," Hope asked her. Wanda just nodded and focused her powers on the cracks, there were a lot of cracks where she had been pushing against the barrier with the sheer force of her powers. She filled both those and the surrounding cracks made by the impact of the bullets with the weird smoky substance coming out of her hands... I also understood why they called her Scarlet Witch now. 

It didn't take long for the cracks to widen. The barrier fell apart not long after that. "I am Groot." "Thank you Groot, it's not as if we can all see that." "What did he say," Hope asked. "He said, there's just more Soulworld." "Oh." "Yep. So... what now?" "What is that over there," Drax asked. "Uh... I don't know... some weird Chinese building thingy..." "What is Chinese?" "Stuff that comes from China," Hope explained. "What is China?" "It's a country, Mr. Drax," little Peter told him. "Oh... What is a country." "Is he really that stupid," Michelle, Peter's friend asked. "Hey, he's an alien okay, give him a rest." "Whatever." 

"Peter?!" it came from behind. I had been watching the little argument about Drax being stupid and an alien, mind you, he can be a very stupid alien, but now I heard a voice behind me. "Peter... is that really you?" 

Gamora

I thought I had been hearing voices for a while now, but I never thought there actually was anyone, let alone someone that I knew. I thought I was just going crazy. But now... there was red smoke... a wall collapsed... an invisible wall of which I didn't even know it was there... and... I heard voices... clear voices... They sounded familiar, the first one... the second one too... and the fourth one too... three familiar voices. I walked over to the edge of whatever this thing was to take a better look at what had happened and... I recognized him, even from the back I recognized him. "Peter?! Peter... is that really you?" He turned, he was standing next to Drax, who had Groot standing on his other side, and two women who I didn't know. I spotted Mantis and two teenagers behind him, but I only got a glimpse of them. "Gamora?!" It was him...

There was some running and some more yelling that I will save you from, but the most important thing is that eventually I ended up in Peter's arms, gosh... that sounds like one of those romantic drama movies that Peter likes to watch because his mom liked them. Okay, the hug might not have been the worst, that was most definitely the crying. Yes, I'll admit, I cried. We both did, we were a mess. 

"Gamora... it's you... you're... you're real..." he eventually whispered into my hair. "I am...," I whispered back. "I missed you..." "I missed you too, Peter..." He lifted my head up to look into my eyes, "God... I love you... so freaking much, do you know that?" I smiled through my tears, "I love you too, Peter, more than anything." He nodded, the he leaned in and kissed me. I did not see that coming. I don't know why I didn't see that coming because it actually seems like the obvious thing to do, but I did not see that coming. Not that I complained about it. 

Afterthat I was hug-attacked by Groot and Mantis, and eventually pulled into a bearhug by Drax, which isn't very comfortable. After that Peter introduced me tohis new friends, Hope, Wanda, Michelle and... Peter, the teenage boy was calledPeter. "We all call him Parker now to avoid the confusion," Peter stated. "Andthey call you Quill?" "Just like you once did." Yeah, when I weren't as attached to you as I am now, you idiot. "Ihave some more friends here though, one of them is called Stephen, he used tobe a stonekeeper." "A stonekeeper? Which Stone?" "Uh... it was green..." "The TimeStone... How did he lose it?" "How do you know that he lost it?" "Well... you guysare all here... Thanos must have had all the Infinity Stones to accomplish that.""Well... he might have given it to him." I stopped in my tracks, "What?" "Therewas... quite a lot going on... we were fighting him but... you know, he's strong... andthen we were all like... not able to fight anymore, except for this one guycalled Tony... but Strange gave him the Stone so he would spare him." "Why?""Because he said there was no other way or something..." "Oh..." "You know whatmakes it all worse?" "Well... it might kinda be my fault..." He closed his eyes,shut them tight as if he were afraid of my reaction. "What do you mean," Iasked wearily. "Well... we were trying to get the Gauntlet off... and we almost hadit off... but... I got angry because... because he killed you... and then... then hepretended to care about you and... but he killed you and... I got so angry that Ipunched him in the face..." "You did WHAT?" That was the reaction he had beenafraid of, I could see it on his face. "He killed you! He... he took the lastperson that I love from me, Gamora! You really think that... that at a point likethat I'd think my actions through? You think you wouldn't have done the same?"I thought about that for a moment, would I have punched Thanos if he had killedPeter... pretended to care about him, or worse, actually cared about him andstill killed him to reach his twisted goal. Yes, I would. Would I punch him inthe face for that? Most definitely, I would have punched him in the face forwhat he had already done to me... if I had the chance. I sighed, "Yes... I wouldhave done the same." "The son of a bitch shouldn't have killed you." "The sonof a bitch shouldn't have done any of the things he did..." "We probably wouldn'thave met in that case though." "Fate is strange." "Yeah, he's still mad." "TheMad Titan." Yeah, he's mad... but still... I couldn't shake that strange lingeringfeeling that somewhere, deep inside of me, I cared for him... Stowed away into the deepest darkest parts of my soul, but it was there nevertheless. 


	12. Showers and... wait who's back?!

Natasha

It was months after Steve's birthday party and we were finally back on track. All trainings had gotten harder, for we prepared to go to war against Thanos. I would say it was a cold winter morning, but it really wasn't, for we were still in Wakanda. However, it was winter. December even, we were getting close to Christmas. Nothing particularly interesting had happened the last few months, unless if you count Thor wrestling with Shuri's pet panthers T'Challa and N'Jadaka, they had grown quite a bit, they were almost three times the size they were when she had found them. 

I woke up at four o'clock in the morning, I usually dislike waking up early and I really hate being woken up early, but it was something that was in my system. Aside from that it was still pretty hot in Wakanda, so the weather played a role too. Since it was so early I decided to go for a morning run. I left as quietly as I could, not even stopping to investigate the noises coming from the training room. Whoever was training, straining and grunting in there right now could wait. I wanted to be alone for a while. I need that from time to time, it helps me to clear my head. 

And clear my head it did. I had time to be alone, alone with my thoughts. That can be a dangerous thing sometimes, but this time it was okay. I thought about my friends, how they were all looking determined... how they were all getting stronger. Even Harley and Shuri had gotten pretty serious and they were still teenagers. It was quite sad to see, but it was what we needed. For we needed to be able to defeat Thanos, so we could get our friends back. 

I also thought of what could happen next... What will happen when we restore the universe? If we even restore the universe? I had not thought of that before. It probably defends on whether or not we get to kill Thanos... If we don't he'll come after us again. So we'll just have to kill him. Of course it was easier thought than done. Most things are easier thought than done, like most things are easier said than done. As far as I know only one thing is easier done then said... silence... 

Yes, I also thought of Steve. What had been going on between us was confusing and it was getting in my way. Meaning: It had become slightly harder for me to focus during training. Yes, I had picked up training with the Cap again, I needed to be pushed to my limits to become better, right? There's always room for improvement. I know of at least one young woman who would agree with me on that. Although she usually means tech. 

I arrived back at the Avengers common room around six o'clock and decided it was time for a shower. The training room had been silent when I passed it, so I thought it would be okay to use the common bathroom attached to the common room. And I also thought it would be a good idea to leave the door unlocked. Boy how I was wrong... In a mildly funny, maybe even ironic way, but still very very wrong.

Steve

I had been up since ten minutes to four... in the morning. I had nothing better to do so I decided to get out a boxing bag and do one of the things I do best. Punch stuff. In this case a boxing bag. I trained for about two hours before I decided it was enough. I put away the boxing bag and headed back to the common room. I didn't want to wake anyone up by turning on the shower in my bathroom, all of the showers in our private bathrooms were very... luxurious, but also very loud. Waking your next door neighbors loud. The one in the common bathroom was silent. 

I opened the bathroom door, expecting to find the room completely empty... Well, turned out it wasn't. Standing there completely naked was none other than Natasha Romanoff. I blinked a few times, unable to say something. Her back was turned to me, but she seemed to have heard the door, for she turned her head around. 

She smirked at me. "Good morning," she said. I swallowed, "Uh... good... good morning." "I'm sorry, did I just ruin your plans to take a shower?" I nodded. "Well, I wouldn't mind if you joined me." Why is that stupid smirk still on her face? How can this be amusing to her? She's naked! "You're half naked already, would be a shame to cover that up now..." Is she teasing me? She was most definitely teasing me. 

"I think it would be better if I didn't," I said. "Why? Afraid of naked women?" "No, of course not." "Then what's the problem? I don't bite... usually." "It's... it's just..." "Afraid you'll use your virginity by staring at a naked woman?" "Of course not! It's just, we're friends!" "Yeah, so are you and Bucky, I bet you've seen him naked several times." My cheeks felt hot. "That's different." "How?" "He's..." "A he?" "Yes." "Sorry, I forgot you were Captain Old-school." "I'm not!" "Then what's your problem?" I sighed, it's hard to argue with Natasha, especially like this, and it certainly didn't seem to bother her. "Well, I don't know what you're going to do, but I'm getting cold over here," she said as she stepped into the shower. 

Natasha

I was surprised when he walked into the room, but I was even more surprised when he actually followed me into the shower. However, I was not surprised when he turned his back to me and stood like that for a while not saying a word. 

"So, you are afraid of naked women?" I just had to tease him. "I'm not." "Your posture says something else, you look tense Rogers." He remained silent. "You know, the shower gel and shampoo are over here... so if you want to make use of them you're going to have to turn around eventually." He sighed, "I... don't need that." "When's the last time you washed your hair?" "Three days ago..." "You need to wash it." "Does this amuse you?" "Kinda, yes." "Can't you just hand it to me?" "Oh come on Steve, man up, you're not afraid of me when I'm clothed, why are you afraid of me when I'm naked?" "I'm not afraid!" "Then prove it." "What?" "Prove it, turn around." "Why do you want me to do this?" "Cause this is the 21st century Steve, that's why." "That makes no sense." "Maybe not. Maybe it does..." He turned his head slightly, "You really don't mind?" "Steve, I'm confident enough to not give damn." "Cover yourself first... Are you covered?" I was, my arms were crossed in front of my chest, I had even crossed my legs to make it easier for him. He turned around and suddenly started to laugh. "Is this why you wanted me to turn around?" "What?" "You made a beard out of soap?" "Don't like it? I personally think it looks pretty good." I slowly lowered my arms and uncrossed my legs, "Was that really so scary?" I asked as the water had washed away my beard. "No... I... Not really no."

Steve 

Control your eyes, control your eyes, control your damn eyes Steve, you might make her uncomfortable if you stare. "Steve?" I looked up at her eyes, "Yes?" "Are you staring?" "Yes... uh, NO!" "You're staring... you know what's pretty unfair?" "Uh... what?" "You're still covering yourself." "What?" She looked down at my hands, who were covering my "little friend". "That..." "Well, uh..." "Come, it's not really fair, is it?" "I suppose not," I agreed. "So maybe you should just remove your hands, don't you think?" "That doesn't make you uncomfortable?" "I'm not afraid of penises Steve." "Well, if you say so," I slowly took my hands away, "Better?" She smirked as she looked down and said, "Definitely, you're less old-school than I expected it seems." She remained silent for a while before she mumbled something that sounded quite a lot like, "And bigger," before she looked up at me again. "What?" "Nothing. Here, have some shampoo," she said as she handed me the shampoo. "Uh, thank you." "You're welcome."

We stayed underneath the shower for a while longer, Natasha took the time to shave her legs... which was pretty distracting to be honest with you. "Why do women do that?" "Do what?" "Shave their legs." She shrugged, "Men like it." "You do it because men like it?" "Maybe we don't like to look down at our legs and find a complete forest growing on them. Also, it feels nice." "It feels nice?" "Uhu, here, feel," she extended her leg towards me. It felt smooth, "Huh, that's nice indeed." "Told you, also, it's easier to get into my suit like this, it's skintight, hairs form resistance," she shrugged, "it's practical." 

There was a short silence, then, "What's that on your back?" I asked. "What?" I touched the mark on her back, "This?" "Oh, that's a scar," she turned around. "You've seen this scar, right?" she said as she touched the scar on her stomach. I nodded, she got that scar when she was shot by the Winter Soldier... Bucky... No, not Bucky, the Winter Soldier, he wasn't himself when he was brainwashed. "I told you Bucky shot that guy right through me, right?" "Yes, oh... OH." "So, that's where the bullet came out." "That must have hurt..." She shrugged, "I survived." "But still, it must have hurt." I lightly brushed my thumb over her shoulder, I felt the scar that marked the place where Bucky had shot her the second time, "I saw... I saw how much this hurt you... and that didn't even go through your body..." "No... it didn't." "And you almost bled out..." "Yeah... I felt a whole lot more miserable the first time he shot me though, I'll admit that. But I survived, and that's what's most important." "Yeah."

Clint

It was half past six in the morning and pretty much everyone was waking up. Tony, Harley, Shuri, Bruce, Thor, Loki, Brunnhilde and Sif were already sitting in the common room as I walked in. "What's for breakfast?" I asked. "Whatever you make for yourself," Tony replied. "Nice, sounds like coffee and toast to me." "Of course it does." "What?" "Nothing, it's just the most boring breakfast you can come up with, perfectly suited for you." I shrugged, "Oh well, I'm just a normal guy, I don't need anything special." I walked over to the coffee machine and made myself some coffee. In the meanwhile I also got the toaster out and made myself some toast. "So, what's the plan for today?" "Don't ask me," Tony said, "Ask the Captain." "Where's the Captain?" "Nobody knows," Thor replied. "Well, that's just great." 

Five minutes. I could have breakfast in peace for five minutes. That's when the bathroom door opened and Steve and Natasha walked out. "Well, won't you look at that," Tony said with a smile on his face. "Look at what?" Steve asked him. "Oh, you know, you and Romanoff... coming out of the bathroom... together." Steve sighed. I looked up from my breakfast to find Steve looking uncomfortable and Nat... well, she just looked as unfazed as ever. "Before you ask, nothing happened Tony," Steve told him. "Well, that's disappointing." "Tony..." "He has a point," Natasha joined in, "That was kind of disappointing." "Not what you hoped for then?" I asked, "Too small or something?" "No, he's just too... you know..." Tony and I nodded in understanding, "Yeah, true." "So he wasn't too small?" I couldn't leave it. "No, not at all." "What you expected?" "Bigger." "Wow." Steve was blushing by now. "That's enough guys, there are children here," he looked at Harley, who looked back at him as innocently as only a teenager who knows exactly what's going on but tries to hide it can. 

"So, did you sleep well?" Natasha asked me as she dropped on the couch next to me. "Meh, could have been better, could have been worse too though. You?" "Woke up at four a.m." "Lovely." "Actually, yes, the Wakandan sunrise is a lovely thing to see." "How could you have seen the sun rise?" "By going out for a morning run." "But the sun is still rising." "I didn't say I saw the sun rise completely." "Yeah, whatever. Had a nice run?" "Yeah, didn't get attacked by a panther or a snake or something, so that's good." "No bears too?" "Bears... in Wakanda...?" I shrugged, "You never know." "Sometimes I wonder what's going on in your head, you know?" "Food, coffee, dogs, arrows... my family... that's about it I think." "You're a strange man, Clint." "Thanks. So... you weren't disappointed by what you saw underneath that shower huh?" "Most definitely not." "Good." "Why's that good?" "Because I'm starting to think that you like him." "You... what?" "Yeah, I think you like him... like more than friends." I was pretty sure of it to be honest. "Keep dreaming, Barton." "I think he likes you too." "And I think you need more coffee to wake up properly," she said as she walked off. 

Valkyrie 

"Allfather, how long is it going to take before we finally undertake some action?" I asked Thor. He shrugged, "I don't know, you'll have to ask Steve." "The guy who was just embarrassed because he was busted showering with a woman?" "Yes, that one." "Okay..." "What, you question his leadership?" "Of course not." Well, kinda, who'd be embarrassed because he/she showered with a woman? "It seems like you do." "Well..." "He's a strong man, Brunnhilde. Do not doubt that. He knows the people he works with and he'll send them out when they're ready." I nodded, "If you say so." 

"You're getting bored here too huh?" A voice sounded from somewhere the height of my waist. I looked down to find Rocket, the weird talking mutated raccoon talking to me. "What?" "I kinda overheard your conversation to the pirate angel." "Pirate angel?" "Yeah, one of my friends once said he thought Thor looked like he was the son of a pirate and an angel..." he stared into the distance, probably remembering his friend... or friends. "So... I call him a pirate angel from time to time." "Well... okay." "So you're getting bored here huh? Want to take some action, beat the shit out of Thanos." "Cleave his head in two with a sword." "That sounds like something one of my friends would like to do..." "One of your friends has a sword?" "Yeah... I mean, she had, yes." "Got snapped?" "What?" "Died when fuckface snapped his fingers?" "Oh, no, not really. He murdered her to get the Soul Stone." "Ouch." "Yeah, you could say that." "That sucks man." "Yeah, it does. I hope there's a way to bring her back. One of my other friends was in love with her and we won't ever hear the end of it if he comes back from fuckface's snap... I she remains dead I mean." "Yeah, I see." 

Rocket's "friend" Nebula walked over and decided to join our conversation too, I'm sure she'd been listening though. "What's your reason to want to kill Thanos?" Was the first thing she asked. "Well... he killed half my people..." "Of course he did..." "That obvious?" "He wanted to restore balance to the universe by killing half of every race, so, yeah." "Oh... well..." 

Thor

I walked up to Steve to talk to him. Brunnhilde has a point, I thought. "Steve... don't you think it's about time we do something?" He looked at me in confusion, "Do something about what?" "About Thanos." He looked at everyone in the room, "You think they're ready?" "I think they're as ready as their going to get. They have been training for months." He nodded, "You have a point... but... you know who we're fighting against right?" "Yes... We're fighting against Thanos..." "Some of us might die." "Some of us already did, Steve. Wanda, Vision, Sam..." Steve sighed, "Yeah, as if I needed a reminder of that. I lost my best friend, Thor." "Then it's about time we avenge him." Steve stared into nothingness for a while, then he looked me in the eye and nodded, "Yes. It is." That is when we began to come up with a plan. 

"So, we're going... when?" Tony asked when we brought up the plan to him. "Tomorrow." "And you guys think the team's ready?" "As ready as it's gonna get." He nodded, "Well, you probably got a point there. Everyone's been trained for months... Still, that doesn't mean everyone can fight the aliens..." Steve nodded, "That's true, but the people who can, I don't think they're going to get any better Tony." "And the ones who can't will be trained on the way. We may have decided to attack, but we still need to find Thanos first." "You guys got a point there." "And you have some very good technology," I pointed out, "the ones who don't have enough physical strength yet can use your weapons." "That's an interesting thought," he said as he stroked his hand over his chin, "a very interesting thought." "What, using your tech?" Steve asked. "Well... yes... and maybe someone else's tech too." "You got a plan?" "I got part of a plan." "Well... that has to count for something." 

Scott

"You need what?" "I need your suit!" "What for?" "You told me something about time vortexes right? Asked me what those things where, what they did and how they transported you back to this realm?" "well, yes, what's up with that?" "We can use them to travel through time, Scott!" "Tony, Janet told me to stay away from them, you never know where you'll end up! And why would you want to travel back in time anyway?" "To stop Thanos from collecting the stones! To stop him from erasing half of the universe!" That surprised me. "If we go back in time, get to the stones before he does... maybe even try to destroy them... he won't be able to kill half the population of the universe!" "You know he'll just go on a killing spree, right?" "Of course I know that, but he'll pose less of a threat to us. If he doesn't have the stones we might have a shot at killing him!" I had to give it to him, that was quite a good plan. Even if it could turn out badly. It might be a good plan, but it'll probably go wrong and we'll end up somewhere with the dinosaurs. He must have read it on my face that I still doubted him, "Come on Scott... just give me chance... give my plan a chance... please..." He seemed desperate, I wondered why. "Look, I know Hank told you not to trust a Stark... I know that. But... I'll be using his tech to help him, and I promise you I won't use it again after. Shrinking isn't my style anyway. But we need to do this... to get the people back... the people we lost." "Who did you lose?" "My... my intern... he's... he's a good kid Scott, he has a gift... he was bitten by a mutated spider... he has powers." "The spider kid from Germany?" "Yeah, him... He has a good heart Scott..." That might have been the moment I realized Tony saw the kid as more than just an intern. I nodded, "Good... I'll help you." 

With my help, and the help of Shuri and Harley, it still took several days to actually do what Tony planned to do. Although the plan was quite simple. The plan was to create suits that would allow the Avengers and a selected few of their friends to go subatomic. Tony needed me there so I could tell him all that I knew about the quantum realm, which wasn't as much as he had hoped for. I could however also help with some of the electronics of the suits, for which they were all grateful. 

"Seems like we can finally put Steve's plan to leave tomorrow into action," I said after two weeks of work. "Yeah, looks like it," Tony said with a smile." We had made eighteen suits. Six of those were for the original Avengers, with of course an Iron-Man armor for Tony. There was an armor for Sergeant Rhodes too, and a suit for Rocket and another one for Nebula. The rest were spares because you can never be careful enough. "Looks like we can indeed leave tomorrow." 

Shuri

I wished I could go with the Avengers, I thought it'd be cool to see the Quantum Realm, but Tony thought I was too young, "And besides, you're a Queen, you're needed here in Wakanda to rule." Of course he had a point there, but that didn't make any of it any better. The ruling was starting to wear me down and I needed some other distraction. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I wasn't born to rule this country. Literally, I mean, yeah, I can do it... I did a pretty good job, but I'm a scientist at heart, not a queen.

"I think it's unfair that we don't get to come... I'm stronger now... since we found the heart shaped herb and all. You got your own suit!" "Time travel's dangerous, Shuri," Harley repeated Tony's words. "I know, but... the Quantum Realm, it would be amazing to see it! Way better than sitting here, waiting for them to come back!" "They're gonna save people Shuri..." "I can save people too! And if they turn back time you probably won't even be here anymore! We won't even know each other! A lot of things that have happened won't happen!" "Oh my god... WE HAVE TO STOP THEM!" "Thank you for finally making sense!" 

Tony

"Mr Stark! Mr Stark, STOP!" The Avengers and I were trying on our suits as Shuri and Harley walked in. "Don't go!" "Kids, I already told you, you can't come!" "That's not what this is about, Mr Stark," Harley said with a panicked look in his eyes. "Then what is it about?" "If you guys go back in time everything will change," Shuri said rapidly. "Well, yeah, that's the point," Natasha told them, "it'll prevent Thanos from getting his hands on the stones." "And it'll drive us all apart," Harley said. "Come again?" "We're all here together now, right?" If you change time, loads of us will be on different places because..." Harley had to take some deep breaths, but Shuri finished the story for him, "because their "timelines" will be different. For example, the Guardians of the Galaxy, Rocket's friends would all still be alive and they'd be up in space with no way for us to contact them... and we need them. The Asgardians, they probably wouldn't be here either." "She has a point, Tony," Thor spoke up. "If we get the stones before Thanos gets them I wouldn't have run into the Guardians, I might not even know them anymore... and you and Steve wouldn't remember reconciling." I looked at Steve who looked back at me. I could see in his eyes that neither of us wanted that to happen. "So... if we go back in time we'll be divided again? Most likely still in hiding?" Natasha asked. Shuri nodded, "Yes!" I sighed, "Dammit..." "Yeah, you could say that again." "Once is enough actually, Nat." "It will get us our families and friends back though. There's no other way to do that than to travel back in time." "Well, that might not be entirely true," Thor said in almost whisper. "What do you mean?" Bruce asked him. "Well... there is this one stone..." "Of course," Natasha said in understanding. "Yeah, uh, I don't follow," Clint put in. "The Reality Stone, it can alter reality... it can alter the reality created by Thanos..." "Oh..." 

And so our plan was delayed again, this time with a really good reason. The problem now was that we had to come up with a new plan. We couldn't attack Thanos with the full gauntlet... but we also couldn't travel too far back into time. I had an idea of to which point we should travel... but that would be dangerous... very dangerous... and it could possibly still divide us. My plan was to travel back to the moment right before the snap, then go with Thanos to wherever he travelled to and steal the Gauntlet from him in his weakened state... It wasn't a good plan though and I was reluctant to tell the others.

Harley

"Hey, Shuri... what does that dot mean?" "What does what dot mean?" I pointed at a dot on one of the radars, "This dot?" "Oh... that means there's a ship coming to our borders." "Oh... can it come in?" "Only if I give it permission to." "Will you give it permission?" "Probably not, I have no idea who's on board of that... plane, it's a plane." "Huh... Kinda weird, don't you think? A plane coming here during these times." "Strange things happen every day, don't they, T'Challa?" The smooth furred panther yawned. Walked up to Shuri and cuddled her legs. The other panther, N'Jadaka sat next to her and pushed his head against her hand. "However, it is strange, yes." "Maybe we should try to contact them." She nodded, "Sounds like a good plan... you never know, they might be friendly." 

As Shuri contacted the plane I decided to keep my eyes on the radar. I mean, you never know if they'd fire anything, right? I heard Shuri ask them who they were, then I heard her go, "WHAT?" "What is it, who are they?" Shuri shook her head, "This can't be..." She listened to the answer she got over the phone. It took almost fifteen minutes for her to speak again, "Your story sounds believable. But how will we know that you are actually telling the truth? How will we know that you really are who you say you are?" "Shuri, what's going on?" She held up her hand to silence me, "Yes, I guess we'll just have to see indeed. You better be who you say you are, it'll cost you your life if you aren't." 

Shuri told Okoye to lower the barriers for the plane and to put them back up again right after it had entered the country. After that she rounded up the Avengers and the others to go to the little airport close to the castle. 

"What are we waiting for?" I asked her. "We're waiting for that plane." "We're waiting for a plane?" Tony asked her, What's that plane got to do with us?" "You'll see it when it lands." "What if I don't have time for this?" "You'll still have to wait, I'm the Queen, I can command you to." "That's sneaky." Shuri shrugged, "You gotta be sneaky sometimes." I looked at Mr Stark as he looked back at me. He looked at me as if he wanted to ask me what was going on. I shrugged and mouthed, "No idea." "Great." "Have some faith in her, Mr Stark, I'm sure she knows what she's doing." "I don't doubt that kid, I just don't get why we have to be here too." "I need you to see if those people are who they say they are," Shuri told him. "So, they are... old friends of us?" "One of them at the very least. Some of you might know some more of them, but you all know one of them." "You're talking in riddles, Shuri." "I'm not. You'll get it once they land. Just be patient for now." "I'm not that good at being patient, but yeah, sure, let's all be patient." "How about you just shut up now, Tony?" "Stay out of it Nat." "No, you're annoying me." "He's annoying all of us," Clint added. "Thanks, Clint." "You're welcome." "Can you all please just shut up and wait?" Steve asked. "Yes sir," the Avengers replied in unison. After which they all smiled slightly. "Thank you... now please just be silent. Wait and see." 

So there we stood, waiting for the plane. And it came... eventually. It was quite big, and once it was landed I could see, from the elevated place on which we were standing, that there was a logo on the back of the plane. The logo looked like a bird, an eagle maybe. It kinda reminded me of the old S.S.R. logo. Yeah, I know about the strategic scientific reserve, I had history class too you know? 

"That's the..." I heard Natasha say before we walked over to the plane. "Yeah, I know," Clint replied. "It can't be." "Knowing Nick this is highly possible." "Yeah... that bastard..." "Hmm, nice way to call him." "That bastard?" "Yeah." 

The plane opened up as we got there, I saw two cars, well, a van and a red car standing in the back of the plane. Between them was a man. He was standing in the dark, but he came forward as we approached. I heard audible gasps coming from the Avengers as he stepped into the light. "That can't be," I heard Steve mumble. "No, this is impossible," Natasha said. "But... he.. he died," I heard Bruce mumble. "This is crazy," Tony whispered, "Crazy, I'm telling you." There was more whispering around me, I couldn't really understand most of it, but I picked up that Thor suddenly seemed to be angry at his friend Lady Sif. "How could you not tell me that?" He shouted. I only picked up one other thing, out of all the noise. "Turns out the bastard's even more of a bastard than we thought he was," Clint said.

**Author's Note:**

> This story is also published on Wattpad. My name there is Wendy Moonwolf if you are interested.  
> Anyhow... I hope you people here enjoy it as much as my Wattpad readers.


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